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TII E 



R 0 T E C 


A 


TOR: 


VINDICATION 



H7 

MERLE D’AUBIGNE, D.D 

H 


know God has been above all iii reports, and will In His own time vindicate in* 
— Oliver Cromwell: Letter to Col. Norton, 28 March, 1643. 


1'ota cohors Papistica veram molitur conjurationem in nostros, in nos. .. .Sit Den* 
Zabaoth Protector Protectoris et Ecclesiae ?—Diplomatic Dispatch from Zurich 
20 January 1604 

((. m . n/ 

[; Jwy 







Ol- LUlH‘h^ vV “ 

NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 

No. 530 BROADWAY. 


1873. 





TO THE 


THEOLOGICAL FACULTY 


OP THE 

. w*. • 


FRED ERICK -WILLIAM UNIVERSITY, 

* * f 


AT AjJRLIN, 


AS A MARK OF GRATITUDE FROM 


T'lF AUTHOR 


. 




























. 







































• 















































. 

' - - • •• 







ADVERTISEMENT. 


Struck with the light tnrown on he character and history of Crom¬ 
well by the various documents which have issued from the press during 
the last few years, I felt a desire to publish in a Continental Review the 
result of my examination. But so great was the interest I found in my 
subject, that I have written a Book rather than an Article, and am now 
compelled to renounce my first intentions, and to lay this Historical 
Essay before the Public in the form of a distinct work. 

Before I had attentively read Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, 
edited by Mr. Thomas Carlyle, I thought it would be beneficial to 
translate his volumes into French; but my opinions in that respect are 
changed. They appear to us generally on the Continent to possess so 
much originality of thought and manner as to defy all possibility of ren¬ 
dering them into any of our languages. I would not be understood as 
censuring an undertaking, which, in my judgment, is one of the most re¬ 
markable that has been produced in Great Britain for a long period; 
indeed I have rarely met with any publication combining greater depth 
of research with remarks as acute as they are just. I have profited 
greatly by the scattered documents which Mr. Carlyle has so happily 
brought together. 

I am not insensible to the imperfections of the volume I now present 
to the English public. I therefore beg my readers to call to mind that 
my original design was merely to write an article for a Review. 

The object of this work,.the rectification of the common opinion 

w:«ii regard to Cromwell’s religious character, has obliged the Author to 
introduce many quotations from his Letters and Speeches. Mere asser¬ 
tion or argument without proof would have been useless. It is not we 
who ought, in this day, to justify the great Protector; he should justify 
himself; and fortunately authentic and authoritative testimony is not 
wanting for this purpose. This circumstance will explain the difference 
between the volume now submitted to the reader and the Author’s other 
historical compositions. But he may also observe that the special nature 
of this work seemed occasionally to require him to introduce reflections, 
somewhat more extended perhaps than properly belong to history. 

Should any of my friends be surprised at the choice of my subject, 
I would remind them that the epoch to which it relates is, perhaps, one 

1 * 



ri 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


of the most important ir. modern times, so far as concerns the new 
developments of nations; that Southey has said, 11 there is n > portion 
of history in which it so much behooves an Englishman to be thoroughly 
versed, as in that of Cromwell’s ageand above all, that “ life would be 
nothing worth, if it were not employed to tell a nd to maintain the truth, 
more especially a truth overlooked or forgotten. 

Ubi plura nitent.non ego paucis 

Offendar maculis. 

I will make one observation mc , »; although the Protector is the sub¬ 
ject of this sketch, its main interest does not consist in him, but in Prot¬ 
estantism. Protestantism in Cromwell’s mind was far above his own 
person. No book can treat worthily of the great Oliver, if the Protest¬ 
ant intei’st does not hold the foremost place in it. We speak in his spirit 
tfhen we respect the ancient motto : 

Deo soli gloria , omnia Humana idola pereant ! 

Protestantism is the great interest of Europe, of the world,—and, es¬ 
pecially at this moment, the great interest of England. While revising 
this essay, I met with a learned and distinguished work by an anonymous 
author on German Protestantism. I was delighted to find that my ideas in 
many cases agreed with his, and I have, in several instances, profited 
by them. All the Protestant forces must now be aroused; and to that 
end, it is the duty of every evangelical writer to point them out. This 
task I have here feebly attempted, and I shall perhaps resume it at some 
future period, by publishing a few recollections of the journey I made 
in 1845 through Germany, England, and Scotland. 

The Theological Faculty of the University of Berlin having recently 
conferred upon me the degree of Doctor in Divinity,—a title which I 
had received some years ago from the College of Princeton, New Jer¬ 
sey, United States,—I think it my duty to conform with the German 
custom, and dedicate to that learned body the first Work published by 
me subsequently to that high honor. This will explain to my British 
readers the motives for the Dedication prefixed to this Volume. 

J. H. MERLE D’AUBIGNE. 

Geneva, May 1847. 

The Author having observed that in England he is frequently called Dr. D'Au. 
bigne , takes the liberty of reminding his readers that his name is J\Ierle d'rfubigne ; 
the latter appellation being assumed by his grandfather to prevent a name from be¬ 
coming extinct which deserved well of Protestantism. As it proceeds from a mat 
.monial alliance ills not sufficient of itself to designate the Author. 



CONTENTS. 


Introduction .Page 1. 

CHAPTER I. 

Cromwell’s private life. 

Tendency of the Stuarts—The Protestant Interest—Letter from a Coun¬ 
try Gentleman—A Family on the Banks of the Ouse—The Earl of 
Essex—Oliver—His Birth and Parentage—A Hunting Match—James 
I.—Oliver at the University, and in London—His Morality—His Mar¬ 
riage—His Conversions—His Connections—Pleasantry—Charles I. 
—His Marriage, and the Twelve Capuchin Friars—Influence of the 
Queen—Oliver’s Conscientiousness.23 

CHAPTER II. 

Cromwell’s parliamentary life. 

Cromwell’s Election and First Appearance in Parliament—His Portrait 
—Tonnage and Poundage—Struggle in Parliament—Dissolution—- 
John Hampden’s Refusal—Absolutism and Popery installed—Evan¬ 
gelical Ministers—Persecutions: Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, Burton 
—Scotland and the Covenant—New Parliament—Strafford—Charles's 
Insincerity—Irish Massacre—Remonstrance— Militia Bill—Cavaliers 
and Roundheads—Charge against Five Members—Beginning of the 
Revolution—Cromwell and his Sons become Soldiers—Necessity— 
Hampden’s Opinion of Cromwell.35 

CHAPTER III. 

SCHISM BETWEEN THE KING AND THE PARLIAMENT. 

Conquest of Liberty—Beginning of the War—Cromwell’s Frankness— 
Letter to Barnard—Intervention in Favor of Hapton Parish—Doubt¬ 
ful Advantages—Cromwell’s Expedient—Fortune of War changes— 
Cromwell refuses to take part in Disorderly Living—Death of Hamp 
den—The two Parliaments—Battle of Marston Moor—A Lettei and 
an Episode—Prudence and Compassion—Cromwell’s Military Char¬ 
acter—Becomes the Real Chief—Battle of Naseby—The King’s Cab¬ 
inet opened— Storming of Bristol—Glory to God !—Christian Union— 
Discipline—Piety—King surrenders to the Scots—Ireton—Cromwell’s 
Letter to his Daughter Bridget—King given up to Parliament—Crom¬ 
well’s Illness—Letter to Fairfax—Cromwell and his Soldiers—Unity 
of Man.4“' 







Till 


CONTEXTS 


CHAPTER IV. 

SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT AND THE ARMY. 

The Two Parties, Presbyterians and Independents—Claims of the Army 
—Joyce—The King’s Leaning towards the Independents—Army man¬ 
ifesto—Religious Liberty—Eleven Members accused—Errors—Influ¬ 
ence of Oppression—Unlawful Intervention of the Presbyterians— 
Opposition of the Army—Independent Influence—Cromwell favor¬ 
ably disposed towards the King—Charles’s Blindness—Letter found 
in the Saddle—The Silk Garter and the Hempen Halter—Cromwell 
despairs of Charles—The King’s Flight—He reaches the Isle of Wight 
—Cromwell suppresses the Levellers—Treaty with the Scots—Charles’s 
Reply to Parliament—The Pit and he that diggeth it.Page 61 


CHAPTER V. 

DEATH OE THE KING. 

Parliament resolves to hold no further Communication with the King— 
Prayer-meeting at Windsor—Second Civil War—Royalist Insurrection 
—Scotch Invasiop—Cromwell’s Victories—Parliament again treats with 
the King—Charles’s Treachery—Great Alternative—Army remonstrates 
with Parliament—Cromwell justified by Facts—The Woodman and the 
Sower—Cromwell to Hammond—Truth and Error—The King at Hurst 
Castle—Parliament rejects the Remonstrance—Composition of the Army 
—The Army at London—Pride’s Purge—Cromwell’s Hesitation about 
the King—Cromwell’s religious Error—Prayers—The Will of God— 
Death Warrant—The Execution censured—Revelation of the King’s 
Treason—Principles of the Roman Church—Of Milton—Charles’s 
Children—Cromwell to his Daughter-in-law—Cromwell and Charles's 
Corpse—The European Powers... 76 


CHAPTER VI. 


IRELAND. 

The Irish Saint Bartholomew—Romish Cruelties—A Priest—Surgery or 
Slaughter—Cromwell’s Appointment—Sailing of the Army—Crom¬ 
well’s Plan—Theocracy—Storming of Drogheda, Wexford, and Ross 
—Peace and Prosperity—Cromwell’s charge to the Popish Prelates— 
Early days of Richard’s Marriage—Cause of Ireland’s Sufferings. 
.102 


CHAPTER VII. 

SCOTLAND. 


Two Kings and two Loyalties—Charles II. in Scotland—Cromwell's 
Letter to the General Assembly and to the Scotch Commander in 





^QNTENTS. 


ix 

Chief—Battle of Dunbar—Dispatch to Parliament—The Edinburgh 
Preachers in the Castle—Cromwell’s Letter—All Christians ought to 
preach Christ—The Malignants —Cromwell’s Illness—Two Letters— 
Cromwell concerning his Son Richard—Worcester—Prosperity of 
Scotland—Cromwell’s Military Career—Two Symbols.Page *‘38 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PROTECTORATE. 

I lake—Love and Fear—The Rump Parliament—Dissolved by Cro.L 
well—The Little Parliament—Speech—Cromwell’s Integrity—Re¬ 
forms—Cromwell’s Longing for Peace—The End—The Protectorate 
—Constitution—New Parliament—Cromwell’s Apology—Death of 
his Mother—Obstructions to Religious Liberty—Cromwell dissolves 
the Parliament—His Plans— L'etal , e’est vioi —The Two French In¬ 
vasions—Revival of English Liberty.150 


CHAPTER IX. 

ORGANIZATION OF CIIURCII AND STATE. 

Necessity of Organization—Ecclesiastical Commission—Errors—Impar¬ 
tiality—Baxter’s Testimony—Cromwell’s—The State—Discontents— 
Letter to Fleetwood—Bridget’s Anxiety—Indulgence—The Major- 
Generals—Cromwell’s System in Ireland—Official and Popular Prot¬ 
estantism—Puritan Mannerism—A better Christianity.171 


CHAPTER X. 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

Milton to Cromwell—Cromwell’s Part with regard to Religious Liberty 
—Opposition to Radicalism, Political and Religious—Established Re¬ 
ligion and Liberty—Milton, a Champion of the Separation of Church 
and State—Cromwell’s System of Religious Liberty—The Two Great 
Interests—The Protector’s Catholicity—George Fox and Cromwell- 
Nayler—Cromwell and the Episcopalians—Roman Catholics and 
j ews —State and Protestantism Identical —Principia Vita :—A Dan¬ 
ger—True Means of Diffusing Christianity—Ely Cathedral—State 
and Church : Church and People.181 


CHAPTER XI. 

MORALITY, GLORY, AND ANTIPOPERY OF ENGLAND. 

The State—Principal Duty—The Glory of England—Morality—Tri¬ 
umphs of Great Britain—Commerce—Justice—Opposition to Spain— 
Antipopery—Cromwell’s Name—The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.^ 







X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XII. 

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 

Defence of Protestantism—Letter to a Protestant Prince—Piedmontese 
Massacre- The Protector interferes—Geneva—Cromwell’s Advice to 
the Protestants—Portugal—France: Nismes—Intervention—Switzer- 
land—Germany—Austria—Council for the general Interests of Prot¬ 
estantism—The Protector’s living Christianity—The eternal Truths— 
Pompeii, Nineveh, and the Bible.Page 215 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE KINGSHIP. 

New Parliament—Ludlow—The Protector’s Speech—Exclusions—Pro¬ 
posals about the Kingship—Discussions on this Subject between the 
Parliament and the Protector—Struggles—Cromwell’s Refusal—Was 
he right 1 —His character—Ambition.233 

o 


CHAPTER XIY. 

LAST PARLIAMENT AND DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 

The Installation—Two Houses of Parliament—The grand Design— 
Petty Quarrels—Parliament dissolved—Conspiracies—Death of Lady 
Claypole—Consolations—Fever—George Fox at Hampton Court— 
Cromwell’s Words on his Deathbed—Confidence—The Storm— 
Cromwell’s Successor—His Prayer and Last Words—His Death— 
Mourning—Cromwell’s Christian Character—Oliver and the Pope— 
Restoration of Mankind—The Protestant Way—Oliver’s Principles— 
The Pope’s Policy—Conflicts and Dangers of the State—The Two 
Wen of th'i Seventeenth Century—Conclusion.247 





THE PROTECTOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 

There arc great crises in the history of man, in which the 
sovereignty of God over kings and people, however it may 
be hidden for a time from the eyes of the multitude, is man¬ 
ifested with such demonstrations of power as to excite the 
conviction of even the most incredulous. While favoring 
breezes bear the ship smoothly over the wide ocean, the 
crew and passengers, careless and inattentive, forget the arm 
*)f God, and perhaps give way to blasphemy. But when 
** the Lord commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind,”— 

A r hen the billows dash over the vessel,—when the sails are 
» 

torn away and the masts are broken,—when these thought¬ 
less people “ mount up to the heaven, and go down again to 

the depths,”.then the Almighty appears to them in 

the midst of the storm:—All eyes behold Him ; all hearts 
tremble before Him ; and the most impious, falling on their 
knees, cry to Him from the bottom of their souls. When 
man will not hear the “ still small voice” in which Jehovah 
ordinarily addresses him, then, to use the language of Scrip 
ture, “He passes by in a great and strong'wind, rending the 
mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces.” 

Of all the events which diversify human history, there is 
aone in which mankind more readily acknowledge the inter¬ 
vention of the Deity than in the revolutions of empires,—the 




12 


INTRODUCTION. 


setting up and pulling down of kings. These great changes 
are usually attended by circumstances so unexpected and ap¬ 
palling, that the eyes of the blindest are opened. 

Such events happened in England in the middle of the 
seventeenth century, when an attempt was made to revive 
the papal power. In every country, this enemy, under the 
direction of the Jesuits, was rising from beneath the heavy 
blows inflicted on it by the Reformation. It possessed one 
spiritual head, which gave unity to its movements ; and to 
support it, Spain, a stirring and fanatical power, was devoted 
to its interests, and ready to give to it “her seat and great 
authority .” (Rev. xiii. 2.) Thus the Papacy was recovering 
a great part of the ground it had lost in Germany, France, 
the Low Countries, Spain, and even in Italy. 

It was imagined that if Rome could possibly succeed in 
ic-conquering England, her cause would be gained and her 
triumph secured throughout the world; the fruits of the 
Reformation would be forever lost; and Great Britain and 
Europe, peopled anew with priests, Jesuits, and monks, would 
sink as low as Spain has sunk. 

The fearful commotions and sanguinary conflicts which 
shook the British isles in the middle of the seventeenth cen¬ 
tury, were in the main a direct struggle against Popery. 
They were like the shakings and shuddering of the earth, in 
a country threatened with conflagration by subterranean 
f res. If a traveller in self-defence slays a highway robber, 
the responsibility of bloodshed does not rest on him. In 
ordinary times his hand would have been pure from its stain. 
War is war, and calls, alas ! for blood. In the days of Louis 
XIV. and of the Stuarts it was a real war that Popery waged 
against the British islands. 

In our days, Rome is stri\ ing to re-enter England by means 
of certain teachers : then, it was through its kings. It was the 
misfortune and the crime of the Stuarts to have rallied around 
Rome, and to have desired to range their subjects under the 
same banner. Charles I. was the victim of this attempt; 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


for Popery ever destroys botli the princes and the people 
who espouse it. Of this truth the Stuarts and the Bourbons 
are memorable examples. 

Strong measures, no doubt, were employed to save Eng¬ 
land from the dahger with which it was threatened. But so 
formidable a disease could not be averted, except by the 
most active remedies. Royalty was overthrown; and yet 
royalty possessed—as it does still—the respect of this na¬ 
tion. A republic was established; and yet a republic in so 
vast an empire is a madman’s dream. Episcopacy was abol¬ 
ished ; and yet this is the form of the Church which the na 
tion prefers. The blood of a king was shed; and yet the 
inspired Preacher saith, Curse not the king, (x. 20.) But all 
these things were accomplished, because the counsel of God 
had determined before that they should be done, (Acts iv. 
28 ;) and thus the prophecy was fulfilled, which saith, I gave 
thee a king in mine anger , and took him away in my wrath. 
(Hosea xiii. 11.) 

If England desired in the present day, as her princes de¬ 
sired in the seventeenth century, to restore Popery ;—if the 
number of those unfaithful ministers, who abjure the Gospel 
for the Pope, should multiply in her bosom;—if that super¬ 
stitious madness should spread to their congregations ;—if 
the heads of the Church should continue to slumber, and, 
instead of rescuing their flocks, allow them to proceed to¬ 
wards the wolf that is waiting to devour them ;—if the gov¬ 
ernment, not satisfied with granting liberty to Popery, should 
encourage it still farther by endowing its seminaries, paying 
its priests, building its churches, and restoring throughout 

Great Britain the power of the Roman bishop.then 

would England probably be convulsed by a crisis, different, 
it might be, from those which startled the reign of Charles, 
but not the less formidable. Again the earth would quake ; 
again would it open to pour forth devouring flames. On 
this account the studv of that remarkable era, in which the 



14 


INTRODUCTION'. 


first contest took place, was never more necessary than in the 
present day. 

In glancing over those times, however, we must make a 
distinction between acts and men. There are deeds which 
we are bound openly and vehemently to condemn; but we 
should proceed too far were w r e to throw upon individuals the 
responsibility of the results. Does it not sometimes happen 
in the course of ages that circumstances occur so calculated to 
shake the mind, that, dazzled, stunned, and blinded, men can 
no longer see their way, and are mere instruments in the 
hand of God to punish and to save? 

Such is the idea put forth by an eminent writer, equally 
great as an historian and a statesman, when treating of this 
epoch: “ The time had now come when good and evil, sal¬ 
vation and peril, were so obscurely confounded and inter¬ 
mixed, that the firmest minds, incapable of disentangling 
them, had become mere instruments in the hand of Provi¬ 
dence, who alternately chastises kings by their people, and 
people by their kings.”* 

But why should we endeavor to blacken the character of 
those whom God has employed in His work ? Is it improper 
in this instance, more than on other occasions, to entertain 
respect for those minds which remain sincere, even when they 
are misguided, and are doing what they believe to be right, 
and to be the will of the King of kings ? 

From the beginning of the seventeenth century England 
was on a steep declivity, which she seemed inevitably doomed 
to descend, and be carried by it into the gulf of Popery. The 
blood of the Stuarts was mingled with the blood of the Guises. 
What the Bourbons were effecting in France, the sons and 
descendants of Queen Mary, older veterans than they in Ro¬ 
man fanaticism, considered themselves called upon to accom¬ 
plish on a larger scale on the other side of the Channel. Of 
a truth these unfortunate princes cannot all be placed in the 
tame rank; but there is visible in them a constant progres* 

* Guizot, Hii*. de la Revolution d’Artgleterre, i. 278 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


sion towards the Church of Rome. Charles I. (1G25) is more 
averse from the Word of God, and more inclined to tradition 
and hierarchy than James I. (1603); Charles II. (1660) more 
so than Charles I.; and James the Second surpasses all his 
predecessors. This progression has all the strictness of a 
mathematical law. 

The despotic counter-revolution attempted by the two last 
Stuarts demonstrates the necessity of the democratic revolu¬ 
tion which it pretended to combat. It plainly showed that, 
in the eighteen years between 1642 and 1660, the English 
nation had not risen up against mere phantoms. Charles II. 
—who, as his mother Henrietta Maria declared to Louis 
XIV., “had abjured the heresy of his education, and w T as 
reconciled to the Church of Rome;”*—Charles II. compos¬ 
ing a treatise to prove that there could be but one Church 
of Christ upon earth, and that that was the Church of Rome ; 
—Charles II. acknowledging to his brother, the Duke of 
York, that he also was attracted to the mother-church;— 
Charles II. sound!nor bis ministers on their intentions with re- 

o 

gard to Popery, and prepared to follow the duke’s advice by 
a plain and public declaration of Romanism, if he had not 
been checked by the prudent counsel of Louis XIY.;— 
Charles II. refusing on his death-bed the sacrament from the 
Protestant bishop of Bath—replying to his brother, who pro¬ 
posed in a whisper to send him a Romish priest, “ Do so, for 
the love of God!”—confessing to the missionary Lluddle- 
stone, declaring his wish to become reconciled to the Roman 
Church, and receiving from him absolution, the host, and 
even extreme unction ;—these most assuredly were not phan¬ 
toms. 

James II., his successor, declaring to the French ambassa¬ 
dor, immediately after his accession, that the English "were 
unconsciously Roman Catholics, and that it would be easy to 

* See a letter from Pell, English minister in Switzerland, to Secretary 
Thurloe, dated 8 May, 1656, in Dr. Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 402, 
London, 1839. 


16 


INTRODUCTION. 


induce them to make a public, declaration ;—James II. hear¬ 
ing mass in the Queen’s chapel with open doors on the first 
Sunday of his reign;—James II., in contemptuous defiance 
of'the laws, filling his army with Roman Catholic officers; 
and when Protestant clergymen went over to the Church of 
Rome, giving them dispensations to continue in the receipt of 
their stipends, and even in the administration of their cures; 
—a great number of Roman churches rising, even in the me¬ 
tropolis ;—a Jesuit school opened without any attempt at 
concealment;—Roman Catholic peers admitted into the privy 
council, and along with them Father Petre, a covetous and 
fanatical Jesuit, who possessed his most intimate confidence ; 
—Roman Catholic bishops in full activity in England ;—Mag¬ 
dalen College, Oxford, receiving a popish president;—seven 
Anglican bishops who had protested against these encroach¬ 
ments, conveyed to the Tower through crowds of people who 
fell on their knees as they passed, and who, when these pa¬ 
triots were acquitted by the jury, lighted up bonfires in every 
part of the city, and burnt the pope in effigy;—William of 
Orange, landing on the coast of Devonshire, on the 5th of 
November, 1688, with the English flag waving at the mast¬ 
head of his ships, and bearing this inscription : The Protes¬ 
tant Religion and Liberties of England; —James II. 
next seeking an asylum at St. Germain en Laye, where he 
met with a magnificent reception from Louis, the persecutor 
of the Protestants, and where the two monarchs remained 
some minutes in each other’s embrace, amidst a crowd of 
courtiers astonished at the sight of this foreign prince, who, 

as they said, “ had given three kingdoms for a mass”. 

these are facts of History,—facts which tell us what was to 
be expected of the Stuarts,—facts which show that the evil 
against which England revolted in the seventeenth century 
was not mere imagination. 

If, during the eighteen years of the Revolution, the evan¬ 
gelical faith and Protestant spirit had not been reanimated 
and greatly strengthened, England would not have been able 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


to resist the invasions of the Papacy under James the Second. 
It was the Revolution which began in 1042, rather than the 
Dutch prince, that overthrew that King. The extirpation of 
Popery required an ingens aliquod et preesens remedium , as 
Erasmus said of the work of the Reformation in the sixteentli 
century—“ a physician who cuts deep into the flesh, or else 
the malady would be incurable.”* There is not in England 
a single royalist or episcopalian, who, if he is a Protestant, 
and at the same time a good citizen, can fail to acknowledge 
the necessity of the violent remedy then applied to the dis¬ 
ease that was destroying Great Britain. And if the revela¬ 
tions of history show us that the men of those times were 
more sincere, more pious, and even more moderate than is 
usually believed, it is the duty of every friend of justice not 
to close his e}'es against this neAV light. We may be de¬ 
ceived, but, in our feeble judgment, the address in which the 
peers of England thanked the Prince of Orange, in Decem¬ 
ber, 1688, for having delivered the country “from slavery 
and Popery ,” might have been presented by the nation to the 
authors of the Revolution of 1642, with more propriety than 
to William the Third. 

In studying the life of Cromwell, the reader will undoubt¬ 
edly have frequent reason to bear in mind the saying of holy 
Scripture, In many things we offend all. He interfered vio¬ 
lently in public affairs, and disturbed the constitutional order 
of the state. This was his fault,—a fault that saved his country. 
With the documents before us which have been published at 
various times, we are compelled, unless we shut our eyes to 
the truth, to change our opinion of him, and to acknowledge 
that the character hitherto attached to this great man is one 
of the grossest falsehoods in all history. Charles II., who 
succeeded him after Richard’s short protectorate ; this mon¬ 
arch’s courtiers, not less immoral, but still more prepossessed 
than himself; the writers and statesmen too of this epoch,— 
all of them united in misrepresenting his memory. The 

* Sayinrr of Erasmus on Luther. 


18 


INTRODUCTION. 


wicked followers of the Stuarts have blackened Cromwell’s 
reputation. Protestantism was on its trial. There can be 
no doubt that the principles of civil liberty, which the family 
of James the First desired to crush, but which eventually 
triumphed in the English nation, and which have raised it to 
such an elevation, had a great share in this struggle; and no 
one man did more than Oliver towards their development. 
But the principal thing which drew down the anger of his 
enemies was Protestantism, in its boldest not less than its 
clearest form ; and the false imputation borne by this emi¬ 
nent man was essentially the work of Popery. In the seven¬ 
teenth century, when the Protestant princes were everywhere 
intimidated, weakened, and dumb, and when some of them 
were making ready for a fatal apostasy, Cromwell was the 
only one to declare himself in the face of all Europe the pro¬ 
tector of the true faith. He even induced Cardinal Mazarin, 
a prince of the Romish Church, to connive at his generous 
designs. This is a crime for which he has never been par¬ 
doned, and for which his enemies have inflicted a scandalous 
revenge. In this task so much perseverance and skill have 
been employed, that not only enlightened Catholics, but even 
Protestants themselves have been deceived. We feel no in¬ 
clination to adopt the hatred and the calumnies of Rome, and 
we sympathize with Protestantism wdierevcr it is to be found. 
This will not lead us to extenuate the faults of those who 
have been its supporters; but their defects will not shut our 
eyes to their good qualities. In the struggle between Prot¬ 
estantism and Popery, which took place in the British isles 
in Cromwell’s time, the noblest part indisputably belongs to 
the former; and the mistakes of its adherents are unimpor¬ 
tant compared with the excessive immorality and the fright- 
. (ul cruelties of which the friends of Rome w r ere guilty, 
i The erroneous traditions of which w r e have spoken have 
spread everywhere, and have been adopted by France, that 
ancient ally of the Stuarts. But Cromwell's Letters and 
Speeches, which have been recently published by Mr. Thomas 


INTRODUCTION. 


19 


Carlyle, and even seme older works, such as the Memoirs of 
the Protector and his Sons, 1 llustrated by Family Papers 
(1820), Oliver Cromwell and his Times (1821), and Dr. 
Vaughan’s Protectorate (1839), ought to produce some sen¬ 
sation on the Continent. Mr. Carlyle complains of the errors 
of most of the writers who have preceded him, and with ref¬ 
erence to two of the ablest he speaks as follows: “ Our 
French friends ought to be informed that M. Villemain’s book 
on Cromwell is, unluckily, a rather ignorant and shallow one. 
—Of M. Guizot, on the other hand, we are to say that his 
two volumes, so far as they go, are the fruit of real ability 
and solid study applied to those transactions.”* Although 
we agree in the homage paid by Mr. Carlyle to the most pro¬ 
found of our historians, we think that M. Guizot’s Cromwell 
ought also to be recast; and that the idea of the Protector 
given by this great writer, not only in his History of the Eng¬ 
lish Revolution, but also in a more recent work, his Essay on 
Washington, is contrary to reality. M. Guizot is a native of 
Isismes, and on this ground alone there are reasons why he 
should be, to say the least, impartial towards Cromwell. But 
he is now so busily engaged as one of the actors of contem¬ 
poraneous annals, that it will be long before we shall dare 
call upon him to complete that other history, which has be¬ 
come one of the masterpieces of the French language. With 
regard to M. Villemain, it is desirable that he should de¬ 
vote his leisure, his impartiality, and his great talents in re¬ 
constructing a work by which he has made himself known 
with great advantage to the friends of literature. I will not 
speak of Viscount Chateaubriand’s work on the Four Stu¬ 
arts : it is characterized by the great talent of the first writer 
of our age, and often by an honorable frankness ; but not less 
by the prepossessions and prejudices of the author of Buona¬ 
parte and thr Bourbons. The imperfect work now submitted 
so the reader has no pretensions to be a more perfect biog¬ 
raphy of the Protector: its sole aim is to indicate, especially 

• Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, i. 2.33; 2d edit., Load. 1846. 


20 


INTRODUCTION. 


to continental Protestants, that it is a page of history which 
ought to be written anew. 

My first idea was simply to publish in French some of 
Cromwell’s most Christian letters, with a running commen¬ 
tary on the whole. But I have gradually been led farther 
than I originally intended. I asked myself, what is the 
worth of all the fine phrases used by this great ruler, if they 
are contradicted by facts ? In consequence of this I was 
compelled to take his actions also into account, to weigh 
them impartially, to distinguish between good and evil, and 
above all to examine deeply into his mind in order to find 
out the law,—a law that easily escapes the observation of 
the inattentive eye,—which, by an invisible bond, unites 
great errors with great piety. I have endeavored to ascer¬ 
tain his character as a whole: it was my wish to reconstruct 
an entire existence, and not offer merely a few fragments and 
startling contradictions of his life. The majority of histori¬ 
ans, indeed, have also sought for this unity, and have easily 
discovered it: according to their views, it is found in his deep 
hypocrisy. But the documents now before us are a striking 
contradiction to this hypothesis ; and no writer who possesses 
the smallest portion of good faith, will ever venture to put it 
forward again. There is no man in history who has a better 
title than .Cromwell to say with Saint Paul :—as deceivers 
and yet true. We must therefore seek for some other ex¬ 
planation. To this task I applied myself; and in the chap¬ 
ter on the death of the king I have more fully set forth the 
result of my inquiries. 

Of the authors who have treated of Cromwell, some jus¬ 
tify not only his principles, but even the worst of his actions : 
this is going too far. Others, on the contrary, censure not 
only all his acts, but his character: and in this they commit 
a serious injustice. These are summary ways of rendering a 
man’s life consistent. By adopting such methods the histo¬ 
rian’s task is soon ended; but I could not have recourse to 
them. I was compelled to blame some of the actions of this 


INTRODUCTION. 


21 


great man, and to rescue his Christian morality. This I have 
done. The solution I have given seems to me to be correct: 
I do not know 'whether it will produce the same effect on 
others. 

May I be allowed to direct attention to a circumstance of 
which I had not thought when I began this work, but which 
may in some measure be its justification? Cromwell, during 
the season of his power, was really the Protector of Euro¬ 
pean, and, in particular, of French Protestantism. As I am 
myself descended from Huguenot refugees, it seemed to me 
that I had a debt to pay to this illustrious man. There were, 
perhaps, some of my forefathers among those inhabitants of 
Nismes, whom the powerful intervention of the English chief 
rescued from the vengeance of the soldiers of Louis XIV., al¬ 
ready marching against that city to execute the orders of the 
court to the last extremity.* “ Nobody can wonder,” said 
Clarendon, a man who, it is well known, had no great love 
for the Protector, and who wrote shortly after the event, 
“ that Cromwell’s memory still remains in those parts and 
with those people in great veneration.” Gratitude is a debt 
that no lapse of time should cancel. I hope that no person, 
in the nineteenth century, will feel that wonder from which 
the prime minister of Charles II. was exempt: and what he 
considered very natural then, in the midst of party feelings, 
will doubtless be thought so still by an unimpassioned pos¬ 
terity. 

The vindication, or rather the restoration, of the Protec¬ 
tor’s memory, has already begun; and perhaps no one can 
do more for it than Mr. Carlyle has accomplished. I think, 
however, that there is room for some improvement. Oliver 
has been presented as a hero to the world ; I present him as 
a Christian to Christians—to Protestant Christians; and I 
claim bcldly on his behalf the benefit of that passage of 
Scripture: Every one that loveth God that begat, loveth him 

* One of the Author’s ancestors quitted Nismes a few years after Cron»* 
veil’s intervention, and found a refuge at Genova. 


oo 

mm 


INTRODUCTION. 


also that Is begotten of Him. Although these pages will beai 
no comparison with the work of the writer I have just 
named, they may, notwithstanding, advance the same object 
in some degree, particularly when considered under a reli¬ 
gious point of view. Others, I hope, will hereafter throw a 
still greater light on one of the most astonishing problems 
that time has handed down to us. It is only gradually and 
by slow degrees that darkness is scattered in history, as well 
as in the natural world. 

1 am well aware that the task I have undertaken is a diffi- 
cult one. We have so deeply imbibed in our early youth the 
falsehoods maintained by the Stuart party, and by some of 
Cromwell’s republican rivals—among others the narrow¬ 
minded Ludlow and the prejudiced Holies—that these false¬ 
hoods have become in our eyes indisputable truths. I know 
it by my own experience, by the lengthened resistance I 
made to the light that has recently sprung up, and illuminated, 
as with a new day, the obscure image of one of the greatest 
men of modern times. It was only after deep consideration 
that I submitted to the evidence of irresistible facts. 

I have no desire to write a literary work, but to perform 
an act of justice. I do not forget the maxim of pagan an¬ 
tiquity, that we should render to every person his due ; I feel 
that among all the good things a man may possess, there is 
one which, according to the saying of the wisest of Eastern 
kings, surpasses all the rest, a good nam,e is better than pre¬ 
cious ointment; and above all, I remember, that if a Chris¬ 
tian ought to confess the Lord upon earth in order that he 
may be one day confessed before the angels in heaven, it is 
also his duty to confess the disciples of the Lord, particularly 
when they are disowned, calumniated, and despised by the 
multitude. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
unto me. 


CHAPTER I. 


Cromwell’s private life. 


Tendency of the Stuarts—The Protestant Interest—Letter from a Coun¬ 
try Gentleman—A Family on the Banks of the Ouse—The Earl of 
Essex—Oliver—His Birth and Parentage—A Hunting Match—Janies 
I.—Oliver at the University, and in London—His Morality—His Mar¬ 
riage—His Conversion—His Connections—Pleasantry—Charles I — 
His Marriage, and the Twelve Capuchin Friars—Influence of tho 
Queen—Oliver’s Conscientiousness. 

* 

The Tudors, and particularly Elizabeth, had exalted Eng¬ 
land by maintaining the cause of the Reformation; but subse¬ 
quently to the year 1603, and especially after 1625, the Stu¬ 
arts, and principally Charles the First, had weakened it by 
inclining anew towards Catholicism. Not only did they de¬ 
sert their stations as the chiefs of European Protestantism; 
not only did they cease to withstand fanatic Spain; but a 
Romish princess, Henrietta of France, was placed upon the 
throne. That, however, was of little moment: another power 
than theirs prevented this mighty country from being placed 
by its monarchs under the yoke of the Italian pontiff. The 
people no longer walked with their princes. The cause of 
the Reformation was dear to them; and they were ready to 
abandon their Kings rather than the Gospel. This unhappy 
family, by -wishing to exalt a traditional power in the Church, 
destroyed their own. While the monarchical authority was 
increasing everywhere on the Continent, it gradually declined 
in England; and a new force, the Commons, the middle 
classes, daily acquired greater strength, liberty, and courage. 


24 


CROMWELL S PRIVATE LIFE. 


The ancient charters of England contained extensive guar¬ 
antees in favor of the national independence. But these in¬ 
stitutions had long been, as it were, dead and neglected ; yet 
they still existed, and the skeleton, so long motionless, was 
about to be reanimated with anew life. If England had been 
a nation devoted merely to secular policy, these charters 
might forever have remained little better than old parch¬ 
ments ; but a new motive power—evangelical faith and the 
interest of Protestantism—was about to revivify these great 
institutions, and, by saving England from the abyss towards 
which the Stuarts were rapidly hurrying it, raise it erelong 
to the highest degree of influence and glory. 

This evangelical spirit possessed great strength among the 
English people: godly families, lovers of the Bible and of 
liberty, peopled its cities and its fields. The following let¬ 
ter, written by a country gentleman, the father of a numer¬ 
ous family, may reasonably be considered one of the many 
symptoms of that Christian life, which, in that age as in all 
others, alone possessed sufficient strength to withstand the 
encroachments of Popery :— 

“ To my beloved Cousin, Mrs. St. John, at Sir William Ma * 
sham his house called Otes, in Essex: Present these. 

“Ely, 13th October, 1639. 

“ Dear Cousin, 

“ I thankfully acknowledge your love in your 
kind remembrance of me upon this opportunity. Alas, you 
do too highly prize my lines and my company. I may be 
ashamed to own your expressions, considering how unprofi¬ 
table I am, and the mean improvement of my talent. 

“ Yet to honor my God, by declaring what He hath dene 
for my soul, in this I am confident, and I will be so. Truly, 
then, this I find : that He givetli springs in a dry barren wil¬ 
derness where no water is. I live, you know where,—in 
Meshec, which they say signifies Prolonging ; in lvedar, 
which signifies Blackness : yet the Lord forsaketh me not. 


25 


Cromwell’s private life. 

Though He do prolong, yet He will, I trust, bring me to His 
tabernacle, to His resting-place. My soul is with the con¬ 
gregation of the First-born, my body rests in hope: and if 
here I may honor my God either by doing or by suffering, I 
shall be most glad. 

“ Truly no poor creature hath more cause to put himself 
forth in the cause of his God than I. I have had plentiful 
wages beforehand ; and I am sure I shall never earn the least 
mite. The Lord accept me in His Son, and give me to walk 
in the light,—and give us to walk in the light, as He is the 
light! He it is that enlighteneth our blackness, our darkness. 
I dare not say, He hideth His face from me. He giveth me 
to see light in His light. One beam in a dark place hath 
exceeding much refreshment in it:—blessed be His Name for 
shining upon so dark a heart as mine ! You know what my 
manner of life hath been. Oh, I lived in and loved dark¬ 
ness, and hated light; I was a chief, the chief of sinners. 
This is true: I hated godliness, yet God had mercy on me 
0 the riches of His mercy! Praise Him for me ;—pray foy 
me, that He who hath begun a good work would perfect it 
in the day of Christ. 

“ Salute all my friends in that Family whereof you are yet a 
member. 1 am much bound unto them for their love. I 
bless the Lord for them; and that my son, by their procure¬ 
ment, is so well. Let him have your prayers, your counsel; 
let me have them. 

“ Salute your Husband and Sister from me:—He is not a 
man of his word ! He promised to write about Mr. Wrath, 
of Epping; but as yet I receive no letters •—put him in 
mind to do what with conveniency may bv. done for the poor 
cousin I did solicit him about. 

“ Once more farewell. The Lord be with you : so prayeth, 

“ Your truly loving cousin.” 

We must say a few words on the individuals mentioned in 
this letter. 


CROMWELLS PRIVATE LIFE. 


2<i 

Along the banks of the Ouse, near Huntingdon, lay a wide 
extent of fertile pasture-lands, bathed by the melancholy 
waters of that river, and broken here and there by little 
wood-covered heights. Towards the south, as you approach 
from Cambridge, stood an aged oak : Querculus anilis erat * 
Over those meadows a little boy frequently disported, and 
perhaps climbed the stately oak-tree in quest of bird-nests 
I lis parents, who were descended from an old and popular 
Saxon family, which does not appear to have mingled with 
the Norman race, lived in a house at the northern extremity 
of Huntingdon. The old mansion exists no longer: a solid 
yellow brick building occupies its place. 

The origin of the family was this. The Earl of Essex, 
vicar-general under Henry VIII., had a nephew named Rich¬ 
ard, who had been very active in the great work accom¬ 
plished by his uncle, namely, the suppression of monasteries. 
In this business he had acquired a considerable fortune. The 
sale of church property and the division of the ecclesiastical 
estates were among the causes that had enriched the middle 
classes of England, and had made them sensible of their 
strength. 

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, five 
grandsons of this Sir Richard were alive in England, all sons 
of Henry called “the Golden Knight.” These were Sir Ol¬ 
iver, Henry, Richard, Sir Philip, and Robert. This last had 
married Elizabeth Steward, who, say the genealogists, was 
descended from the royal family of Scotland, from one Wal¬ 
ter Steward, namely, who had accompanied Prince James of 
Scotland into England in the time of Henry IV., and there 
settled. 

On the 25th of April, 1599, while Shakspeare was yet 
alive, and in the latter years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
at a time when England already began to feel a presentiment 
of the greatness to which she would be called by her resist¬ 
ance to Rome, the wife of Robert Cromwell bore to him a 
* ISarnabsD Itinernrium, quoted by Carlyle, i. 33. 


Cromwell’s private life. 


2. 


child, who was to do more than any of his conteir. poraries in 
accelerating this glorious destiny. He was named Oliver, 
and was christened on the 29th of the same month. This is 
the little boy of whom we have already spoken. This family 
possessed certain lands round Huntingdon, producing a rev¬ 
enue of about £300 a year, equivalent perhaps to £1000 of 
our present money. It was the same Oliver then thirty-nine 
years of age, who wrote the letter we have given above. 
Mrs. St. John, to whom it is addressed, was the wife of a cel¬ 
ebrated barrister, and then on a visit at the house of Sir 
William Masham, a zealous puritan, and also a busy man in 
the politics of his time. The Golden Knight’s eldest son, 
Sir Oliver, uncle to our hero, was as expensive a man as his 

father, and dwelt in a stately mansion at Hinchinbrook, on 

« 

the left bank of the Ouse, half a mile west of Huntingdon. 

It has been denied, both in France and England, that the 
Protector was related to the powerful minister of Henry VIII. 
but without other foundation than the impatient answer he 
returned to a fawning bishop, who reminded him of this 
relationship. The malleus monachorum, the mauler of 
monasteries, as the Earl of Essex was denominated, was great 
uncle to that Oliver, who proved a still more potent “mauler” 
than his ancestor: one Morgan Williams having married the 
vicar-general’s sister, whose eldest son Richard took the name 
of Cromwell. There are still in existence two letters from 
this Sir Richard Cromwell, Oliver’s great-grandfather, ad¬ 
dressed to the Earl of Essex, in both of which he signs him¬ 
self, your most bounden nephew * We must therefore class 
this denial with all those other falsehoods with which Crom¬ 
well’s history has hitherto been overloaded ; such as the pro¬ 
phetic spectres that appeared to him in his childhood, his 
orchard robbing, and his tyrannous combats with the boys 
of the neighborhood. These are stories “ grounded on hu¬ 
man stupidity,” says his latest biographer, “ to which we 
must give Christian burial once for all.” Unfortunately it is 

* Carlyle’s Crjmwell, i. 39. 


28 


Cromwell’s private life. 

not only by such unimportant circumstances that falsehood 
has obscured the real life of Cromwell. 

Oliver was four years old, when the shouts of a magnifi¬ 
cent hunting party re-echoed along the banks of the Ouse. 
On the afternoon of Wednesday, the 23d of April, 1603, a. 
royal train,—hounds, horses, and cavaliers—approached the 
green lawns and winding avenues of elder and willo'V trees 
that led to the manor-house. King James, son of the un¬ 
happy Mary Stuart, was coming from the north to take pos¬ 
session of the English crown. Elizabeth, the last of the Tu¬ 
dors, after raising England to the first place among the nations, 
had been dead little more than a month, having with her 

latest breath named her cousin of Scotland as her successor. 

*•» 

On his way to London the king was to lodge at Hinchinbrook, 
the stately mansion of Oliver’s uncle, where preparations 
were made to receive him in the most sumptuous manner. 
James came hunting all the way: and he appeared at last, 
possessing none of his mother’s graces. He was of middle 
stature, and wore a thickly wadded dagger-proof doublet. 
He alighted in the court-yard, but his legs were too weak to 
carry his body, and he needed support to enable him to walk. 
He was almost seven years of age before he began to run 
alone. He took his seat at the table of the Golden Knight: 
he drank with difficulty, and it seemed as if he masticated 
what he drank. On the other hand, he made a great show of 
learning, and his conversation was full of theological apoph¬ 
thegms and political maxims, which he delivered in the most 
pedantic fashion. 

This royal visit to Hinchinbrook House must have been a 
great treat for little Oliver. He was an active and resolute 
boy; but his quarrel and battle with young Prince Charles, 
then Duke of York, is probably a fable. The king arrived 
on Wednesday, and set off again on Friday ; Sir Oliver giving 
him costly presents at his departure. Knights were created 
in the great hall, and among the number was the Protector’s 
paternal uncle, and in the next year Thomas Steward of Ely, 


Cromwell’s private life. 


29 


his maternal uncle. The king moved on towards London, 
although he had been informed that the plague was raging in 
that city: a circumstance which vexed him exceedingly ; as he 
was deficient in courage. But the crown of England awaited 
him there, and this rendered him superior to fear. 

Amid such scenes as these young Oliver grew up to man¬ 
hood, in the bosom of an austere family, and at a time 
when the north seemed preparing for a struggle against the 
south,—Great Britain and Scandinavia against Rome and 
Spain. The intrigues of the Jesuits; the tendency of the 
Anglican party, which was ere long to muster under the ban¬ 
ner of Laud; the rights and the power of the Word of God 
—these were the engrossing subjects of thought and conver¬ 
sation in the midst of which the child increased in strength 
in this rural solitude. 

In 1616, Oliver, at the age of seventeen quitted the banks 
of the Ouse and the home of his boyhood, for the university 
of Cambridge, about fifteen miles from Huntingdon. On 
this important occasion it is most likely that he was accom¬ 
panied by his father. He was entered at Sidney Sussex Col¬ 
lege on the festival of the Annunciation. Cromwell, it is true, 
never had any pretensions to learning; but he was far from 
being so deficient in this respect as has been represented. 
He possessed a familiar acquaintance with the historians of 
Greece and Rome; and on one occasion in particular he con¬ 
versed in Latin with a foreign ambassador. In June, 1617, 
when only eighteen years old, he lost his father. In the 
same year died his grandfather Steward at Ely; and his 
mother saw herself at once fatherless and a widow, left with 
six daughters and an only son. Oliver returned no more to 
Cambridge, but took his father’s place at Huntingdon. A 
few months after, he proceeded to London to gain some 
knowledge of law\ 

The stories that he led a dissolute life in the capital oi 
elsewhere are exaggerated, or rather without any basis in 
truth. They are prim ipally founded, so far as we can see. 


30 


Cromwell’s private life. 


on that portion of his letter to Mrs. St. John, in which he 
calls himself the chiej of sinners. This merely shows how 
ignorant his accusers are of true religion. Every Christian, 
even the most moral man, is ready to declare himself with 
Saint Paul, the chief of sinners. Oliver’s greatest enemies 
have not been able to reproach him with any notorious vice. 
Wei wood acknowledges that he was not addicted to profane 
swearing, gluttony, drunkenness, gaming, avarice, or the love 
of women. In later times he distributed in one year £40,000 
from his own purse to charitable uses. 

Among the families that he visited in London was Sir 
Tames Bourchier’s. This gentleman had a daughter, Eliza¬ 
beth, to whom, on the 22d of August, 1620, though only 
twenty-one years of age, Oliver was married at Saint Giles’s 
Church, Cripplegate. He immediately returned with his 
wife to Huntingdon, and settled down in the mansion of his 
father?. 

The next ten years were passed in seclusion—years in which 
a man is formed for life. Cromwell busied himself in farming, 
and in industrial and social duties ; living as his father before 
him had lived. But he was also occupied with other matters. 
Ere long he felt in his heart the prickings of God’s law. It 
disclosed to him his inward sin; with St. Paul, he was dis¬ 
posed to cry out: O wretched man that I am ! who shall de¬ 
liver me from the body of this death? and like Luther pacing 
the galleries of his convent at Erfurth, exclaiming, “ My sin ! 
my sin ! my Hr !” Oliver, agitated and heart-wrung, utter¬ 
ing groans and cries as of a wounded spirit, wandered pale 
and dejected along the gloomy banks of the Ouse, beneath a 
clouded sky. He looked for consolation to God, to his Bible, 
and to friends Havre enlightened than himself. His health 
and even his strong frame were shaken; and in his melan¬ 
choly he would oftv'n send at midnight for Dr. Simcott, phy¬ 
sician in Huntingdon, supposing himself to be dying. At 
length peace entered into his soul. “ It is therefore in these 
years,” says Mr. Carlyle “ that we must place what Oliver, 


Cromwell’s private life. 


31 


with unspeakable joy, w r ould name his Conversion—his de¬ 
liverance from the jaw r s of Eternal Death. Certainly a grand 

epoch for a man: properly the one epoch.He was 

henceforth a Christian man,” continues his biographer, “ not 
on Sundays only, but on all days, in all places, and in all 
cases.”* 

Cromwell now' zealously attended the Puritan ministry, 
and chose his friends from among the gentry and nobility of 
his neighborhood who held the same opinions. He became 
intimate with Hampden, Pym, Lord Brook, Lord Say, and 
Lord Montague. Almost all the serious thought of England 
was then Puritan. In the midst of them all was Oliver, 
modest, devout, conscientious, and seriously intent “ to make 
his calling and election sure.” 

His intercourse with his friends was full of cordiality. He 
has been reproached with a fondness for buffoonery ; but we 
must recollect that such a characteristic trait is often found 
in the most Christian and truly serious men. It is a weak¬ 
ness that is throwm off with difficulty. Many sallies and 
jests imputed to him have been grossly exaggerated, and 
made grievous charges against his piety. We must condemn 
all ill-timed levity; but we should also remember that no 
prince, descended from the blood of kings, ever showed him¬ 
self more jealous of his dignity, on great occasions, than the 
Protector did. From his early youth he possessed true se¬ 
riousness. He fervently devoted himself to works of Chris¬ 
tian piety. “ Building of hospitals,” wrote he to his friend, 
Mr. Storie, in January, 1636, “provides for men’s bodies ; to 
build material temples is judged a work of piety ; but they 
that procure spiritual food, they that build up spiritual tem¬ 
ples, they are the men truly charitable, truly pious.”f 

* Letters and Speeches, i. G8. 

t Carlyle’s Cromwell, i. 116.—In the original this letter is dated, Jan¬ 
uary, 1635, but the reader will bear in mind that the English year in those 
times did not begin until the 25th of March, which was New-year’s day ; 
this custom obtained in England until 1752. In all cases we give the 



32 


Cromwell’s private life. 


An important work, as we have seen, was finished *n Oli¬ 
ver during the nine or ten years of obscurity and seclusion 
that intervened between his marriage and his obtaining a seat 
in parliament. Milton, who knew him well, says of him : 
“ He had grown up in peace and privacy at home, silently 
cherishing in his heart a confidence in God, and a magna¬ 
nimity well adapted for the solemn times that were approach¬ 
ing.* Although of ripe years, he had not yet stepped for¬ 
ward into public life, and nothing so much distinguished 
him from all around as the cultivation of a pure religion, and 
the integrity of his life.”| 

Oliver was henceforth a Christian in earnest. He had 
been called by God to the knowledge of Jesus Christ: his 
mind had been enlightened and his heart renewed by the Di¬ 
vine Word. To this call from on high, this great call from 
God, which so many souls despise, or at least neglect, he had 
replied from the depths of his heart, and had laid hold of the 
grace presented to him, with a new and unalterable will. He 
had believed in the name of the Lord, in the blood of Jesus 
Christ: he had been delivered from the penalty of sin, and 
from the dominion of evil. A new birth had given him a 
new life. He was at peace with God : he possessed the 
spirit of adoption, and an easy access to the throne of Grace. 
From that time he became a man of prayer, and so he re¬ 
mained for the rest of his life. He lived and he died in 
prayer. It was not he who had loved God first: he had 
been loved by Him, and had believed in this love. He had 
not acted like those who, enchanted by the world, always 
defer the moment of their conversion, and thus become guilty 
of the greatest sin and the greatest foil) 7 . 

year according to the new style, to prevent confusion. Thus, the last 
three months of lf>35, old style, will be the first three of IG3G, new style. 

* Domi in occulto crevcrat, et ad surama quaeque tempora fiduciam Dec 
fretam et ingentcm animum tacito pectore aluerat. Defensio Secunda. 
10G Hagae, 1G54. 

t Religionis cultu purioris et integritate vitae cognitus. Ibid. 


Cromwell’s private life. 


33 


Rusticas expectat dum dcfluat amnis, at ille 
Labitur ct labctur in omne volubilis aevum. 

In regard to the kingdom of heaven, he had learnt that it is 
the violent who take it by force ; and with the whole energy 
of his soul, regenerated by the Holy Ghost, he had seized 
upon it. Oliver was now a real Christian : he remained one 
to his latest breath ; and, if we except a few moments of 
trouble, to which the most godly men are subject, he perse¬ 
vered in faith and confidence till his course of mortality was 
completed. 

Events were now becoming more serious every day, and 
thick clouds were already gathering over the people and the 
throne. 

The accession of Charles I. had been hailed with pleasure. 
His morals were virtuous; and what might not the nation 
hope from a prince only twenty-five years old ? But when 
the king gave England a papist queen in the person of Hen¬ 
rietta of France, the affection that had been entertained to¬ 
wards him immediately cooled. Nor was it without a cause. 
In the marriage-contract, drawn up under the eyes of the 
Pope, there were several clauses favorable to the Romish 
faith. Henrietta arrived in London, fortified by the instruc¬ 
tions of Mother Magdalen of St. Joseph, a Carmelite nun, 
and under the direction of Father Berulli, accompanied by 
twelve priests of the Congregation of the Oratory. These 
having been sent back to France, were soon replaced by 
twelve Capuchin friars. Henrietta, a worthy pupil of her na¬ 
tive court, wished at first to make everything bend to her re¬ 
ligion and her humor ; and her followers desired to celebrate 
their worship in all its splendor. The queen had even a lik¬ 
ing for intrigue; and it was soon seen that the blood which 
flowed in her veins was that of the Medici. It was more 
particularly after the death of Buckingham, (23rd August, 
1628,) that she wished to take advantage of her husband’s 
affection to enable her to domineer over the country, and 


34 


Cromwell’s private life. 


that the most zealous Roman-catholics, admitted into the 
queen’s cabinet, sought there the power they required for the 
accomplishment of their designs. 

At the time when p opery was thus reappearing at the 
court of England, the Gospel was flourishing in the house of 
Oliver, who was occupied with his flocks and fields, his chil¬ 
dren, the interests of his neighbors, and above all in putting 
into practice the commandments of God. Salvation was 
come to his house, and his light shone before men. He pos¬ 
sessed great delicacy of conscience, and of this we shall 
give one instance which occurred a little later. After his 
conversion to God, he remembered what Zaccheus said to 
Jesus, as He went into his house: Behold, Lord, if I have 
taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore 
him fourfold. Cromwell had taken nothing in that way; but, 
like other men of the world, he had won some money for¬ 
merly in gambling. This he returned, rightly considering it 
would be sinful to retain it. The sums were large for those 
days; one of them being £80, and the other £120. His 
means were not ample, his family had increased; but such 
things had no weight with him. His religion was one not of 
words but of works. As soon as his conscience spoke, he 
acted on its suggestions, however great the sacrifice he was 
compelled to make. He remembered Christ’s remark, and 
acted on it during his whole life: Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, sht ll enter into the kingdom of heaven ; 
hut he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. 


CHAPTER II. 


cromvvell’s parliamentary life. 

Cromwell’s Election and first Appearance in Parliament—His Portrait— 
Tonnage and Poundage—Struggle in Parliament—Dissolution—John 
Hampden’s Refusal—Absolutism and Popery installed—Evangelical 
Ministers—Persecutions: Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, Burton—Scot¬ 
land and the Covenant—New Parliament—Strafford—Charles’s Insin¬ 
cerity—Irish Massacre—Remonstrance—Militia Bill—Cavaliers and 
Round-heads—Charge against Five Members—B^’miing of the Rev¬ 
olution—Cromwell and his sons become Soldiers—Necessity—Hamp¬ 
den’s Opinion of Cromwell. 

On the 29th of January, 1628, wits were issued for a new 
Parliament, in which, on the 17th of March, Cromwell took 
his seat as member for Huntingdon. His father alsQ, in earlier 
years, had been returned for the same town. After a proroga¬ 
tion of three months, the legislature assembled again on the 
20th of January, 1629. On the 1 ltli of February, the House 
of Commons resolved itself into a grand Committee of Relig¬ 
ion, in which one of the new members, Oliver, then thirty years 
}f age, rose to speak for the first time. All eyes were turned 
lpon him, and the House listened to him with attention. He 
jvore a plain cloth suit, which seemed to have been made by a 
bad country tailor; his linen was not of the purest white ; his 
muffles were old-fashioned; his hat was without a band ; his 
sword stuck close to his side ; his countenance was swollen and 
reddish ; his voice sharp and untunable : but his delivery was 
warm and animated ; his frame, although exceeding the mid • 
die height, strong and well-proportioned; he had a manly 
air, a bright and sparkling eye, and stern look.* 

* Memoirs of Sir Philip Warwick, 247 London, 1701. 


36 


ckomwell’s parliamentary life. 


Certain ecclesiastics were then gaining notoriety by tlieii 
zeal in forwarding, within the pale of the Church, the power 
of the king and the doctrines of Rome. Cromwell com¬ 
plained that the bishops permitted and even recommended 
the preaching of “ flat Popery.” “ If these are the steps to 
church preferment,” exclaimed he, “ what are we to expect!’ 
— What are we to expect? . . . asked Oliver; and this was 
in truth the great question of the age. The re-establishment 
of Popery was the object of the seventeenth century, and 
Cromwell’s first public words were against it. He then set 
up the landmark which determined and marked out the course 
he had resolved to follow until his death. Even Hume, gen¬ 
erally so hostile to him, is struck by seeing his first words 
correspond so exactly to his character. Cromwell, indeed, 
was from the banning to the end of his life quite consistent; 
he was faithful to the one idea, which he proclaimed upon the 
housetops. And it is this man, so decided, so open, who has 
been termed a hypocrite! History was never guilty of a 
greater error. 

The Commons did not for the present stop at the extrava¬ 
gant doctrines of such semi-papists as Mainwaring, Sibthorp, 
and Montague, whom the Bishop of Winchester had taken 
into favor. It was a different question that led to the disso¬ 
lution of Parliament. The king required that they should 
vote the duties of tonnage and poundage for life, which the 
Commons refused. The speaker Finch, a courtier, was de¬ 
sirous of adjourning the house immediately, according to the 
orders of his master; but some of the members, among whom 
was Mr. Holies, resisted, and in despite of his supplications 
and tears, held him by main force in the chair. The kins' 
sent orders to the serjeant-at-arms to withdraw with the 
mace, which would suspend all deliberation; but he also,like 
the speaker, was kept in his seat. At the same time the keys 
of the hall were taken from him, and the doors were locked. 
Shortly after, a knock was heard on the outside : “ Open,” 
said the usher of the black rod : “ a message from the kins.” 


CROMWELL J S PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. 


31 


It was of no avail: the doors remained closed. Charles now 
grew furious, and sending for the captain of his guard, or¬ 
dered him to force the door. But in the meanwhile the Com¬ 
mons had carried three resolutions: the first, against Armini 
anism ; the second, against Popery. In a portion of the An¬ 
glican clergy there was a combined tendency towards these 
two errors, and they are evils which possess in truth a great 
resemblance. Finally, by the third resolution, the House de¬ 
clared the levying of tonnage and poundage illegal, and those 
guilty of high treason who should levy or even pay such 
dues. When the captain of the guard arrived, he found the 
hall deserted. The House had adjourned in conformity with 
the king’s order. On the 10th of March, Charles went down 
to the Lords and dissolved the Parliament, complaining of 
the behavior of the Lower House, particularly of “ certain 
vipers, who must look for their reward.” In effect, Holies 
Sir John Elliot, William Strode, and some others, ■were fineA* 
and imprisoned. This was the last Parliament in England 
for more than eleven years. Cromwell returned to Hunt- 
ingdon. 

One of Oliver’s aunts, Elizabeth Cromwell, had married 
William Hampden, of Great Kimble, in Buckinghamshire, 
and 'was left a widow with two sons, John and Richard. 

i 

John was a quiet and amiable man; no great talker, but a 
good listener ; yet under this moderation and simplicity lay 
concealed a will of iron and a most determined resolution. It 
was the destiny of this individual to give the signal of resist¬ 
ance to Charles’s arbitrary measures. He was called upon 
for the sum of twenty shillings, his portion of the rate w'hich 
the Commons had forbidden to be paid. He refused mod¬ 
estly, but firmly, being determined to try the issue at law. 
The judges, who would have preferred being silent, decided 
against him by a majority of eight to four. But the people 
looked upon him as the victor, and he became dear to all true 
hearts in England. Thus it was the family of Cromwell that 
began the struggle against Charles. • 

4 


58 CROMWELLS PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. 

In 1631, Oliver, wlio had left Huntingdon, settled at Saint 
Ives; and it was while busied with farming at this place, that 
he wrote the letter which we have quoted above; in which, 
laying down, as it were, the future course of his life, he de¬ 
clares himself ready to do and to suffer for the cause of 
God. It may be, however, that the simple obedience to the 
Word of God, which should be the essential characteristic of 
a Christian’s practical life, does not stand forth in it with suf¬ 
ficient clearness, and that in its stead there is a somewhat 
mystic tendency. Cromwell afterwards became clearer and 
more sober in his views. 

The agitation of England continued to increase. Charles 
was endeavoring to dispense with a Parliament, and to govern 
his kingdom by drawing more or less near to France and 
Spain. His ministers drove him into violent measures, and 
with a view to augment their strength, they soon formed an 
alliance with an unsound prelatism. Laud, archbishop of 
Canterbury and primate of all England, to whom Rome had 
offered a cardinal’s hat, restored many of the practices and 
ceremonies of Popery. The communion table was replaced 
by an altar raised on several steps at the east end of the 
church ; the crucifix, pictures, and tapers were restored ; and 
the officiating clergy, in gaudy dresses, made genuflexions 
before the altar after the Romish custom. 

The middle classes took the alarm. Associations were 
formed for the propagation of the Gospel; funds were raised 
to send preachers into various places, where it would be their 
duty not only to proclaim Jesus Christ, but to combat the 
popish superstitions under which it was now attempted to 
reduce the nation. The evangelical Christians of London, 
among whom was Mr. Storie, one of Cromwell’s friends, sup¬ 
ported Dr. Wells, one of these “ lecturers” at Saint Ives. He 
was “ a man of goodness and industry, and ability to do good 
every way” (as Cromwell writes to Mr. Storie on the 11th 
January, 1630), “not short of any I know in England.” 
Wells’s preaching and conversation advanced Cromwell and 


Cromwell’s parliamentary life. 39 

his family in the ways of true piety. “ Since his coming, the 
Lord hath by him wrought much good among us,” adds 
Oliver. 

Soon afterwards, the news of the cruel persecutions against 
Laud’s adversaries reached Saint Ives. They were placed in 
the pillory (such was the report), their ears were cut off, they 
were heavily fined, and condemned to imprisonment for life; 
but they endured these sufferings with indomitable courage. 
On one occasion, as the executioner was driving back the 
crowd, the martyr, foreseeing the evils that Charles would 
bring upon his people, interfered, exclaiming, “ Let them 
come, and spare not, that they may learn to suffer.” 

Dr. Leighton, father of the celebrated archbishop of that 
name, for publishing “ an Appeal to the Parliament, or Zion’s 
Plea against Prelacy,” was condemned to pay a fine of 
£10,000 ; to be set in the pillory at Westminster, and pub¬ 
licly whipped; to lose his ears, have his nostrils slit, and his 
theeks branded with the letters S. S.—“ Sower of Sedition” 
—a sentence that w r as executed in all its severity. 

Prynne, a very remarkable man, was a barrister of Lin¬ 
coln’s Inn. The first crime that he committed, and for which 
he lost his ears, w'as his having published a work entitled 
“ Histriomastix ,—the Player’s Scourge,” directed against all 
stage-plays, masques, dances, and masquerades. The king 
and queen were fond of masques and dances, and Henrietta 
of France often w r on loud applause in the court theatricals. 
Prynne was accordingly accused by Laud of sedition. His 
second crime was a work against the hierarchy of the Church. 
As he had already lost his ears by the first sentence, the 
stumps on this occasion were literally sawed off. “ I had 
thaught,” said Lord Chief Justice Finch, feigning astonish¬ 
ment, “ that Mr. Prynne had no ears !”—“ I hope your hon¬ 
ors will not be offended,” replied Prynne; “ pray God give 
you ears to hear.”—Oliver’s ear heard, and his heart throbbed 
with emotion. 

As Dr. Bastwick ascended the scaffold on which he was 



40 


cromwell’l parliamentary life. 


to suffer mutilation, his wife rushed up to him, and kissed 
the ears he was about to lose. Upon her husband’s exhort¬ 
ing her not to be frightened, she made answer; “Farewell 
my dearest, be of good comfort: I am nothing dismayed.” 
The surrounding crowd manifested their sympathy by loud 
acclamations. 

On descending from the scaffold he drew from his ear the 
sponge soaked with his blood, and, holding it up to the peo¬ 
ple, exclaimed ; “ Blessed be my God, who hath counted me 
worthy, and of his mighty power hath enabled me to suffer 
anything for his sake; and as 1 have now lost some of my 
blood, so I am ready and willing to spill every drop that i'i 
in my veins in this cause, for which I now have suffered ‘ 
which is, for maintaining the truth of God, and the hona 
of my king against popish usurpations. Let God be glori 
fied, and let the king live forever.”* 

When Mr. Burton, a puritan divine, was brought on tin 
platform, and was asked if the pillory were not uneasy foi 
his neck and shoulders, he answered : “ How can Christ 
yoke be uneasy ? He bears the heavier end of it, and I the 
lighter ; and if mine were too heavy, He would bear that too. 
Christ is a good Master, and worth the suffering for! And 
if the world did but know His goodness, and had tasted of 
His sweetness, all would come and be His servants.”! 

Such were the acts of Charles I.—acts that filled Oliver’s 
soul with horror and anguish. 

In Scotland also the evil had reached a great height. 
Charles wished to abolish Presbyterianism in that country, 
and establish Laud’s prelacy in its place, the sure way to 
the restoration of Popery. On the 23d of July, 1637, the 
missal in disguise was to be solemnly installed in Saint Giles’s 
kirk at Edinburgh. As soon as the dean began to read the 
sendee, a terrible uproar broke out. The Scotch swore fidel¬ 
ity to their ancient institutions, signed the Covenant, and 

* Prynne’s New Discovcry / &c. p. 57. 
t State Trials, iii. 748-752. 


CROMWELL S PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. 


41 


took up arms in its defence. Their banners were unfolded. 
When the Scotch armies advanced against Charles, they 
were marching against Rome, as Gustavus Adolphus was 
proceeding in Germany at the head of his warriors, “ meek 
as lambs, terrible as lions.” Scotland was at that time the 
vanguard of Protestantism. Upon the refusal cf the Eng¬ 
lish army to fight against the Scots, the King was compelled 
to submit to a new Parliament, which met on the 11th of 
April, 1640, to the unspeakable joy of the people. Crom¬ 
well was returned for Cambridge. 

This assembly proceeded energetically to prosecute the 
authors of all the miseries of the nation. On Monday, the 
10th of May, 1641, his majesty signed the death-warrant of 
his former minister, Strafford, who was beheaded on the 
Wednesday following. “ Put not your trust in princes, nor 
in the sons of men, for in them there is no salvation ,” exclaimed 
the earl, raising his hands to heaven, when he was told that 
the king had given his assent to the bill for his execution. 
Oliver’s name does not appear in the proceedings. 

In August of the same year, Charles resolved to visit 
Scotland, and endeavor to gain over its people, always dis¬ 
tinguished for their loyalty. Here he was observed to listen 
attentively to the long sermons of the Presbyterian preach¬ 
ers, and attend devoutly to their frequent prayers ; but it 
was soon discovered that there was a ravening wolf beneath 
the sheep’s clothing. They learnt that he was secretly col¬ 
lecting documents by which he hoped to overthrow his ene¬ 
mies in both kingdoms. He was anxious to obtain proofs of 
the correspondence which had taken place between the Eng¬ 
lish Parliament and the Scotch Covenanters, and thus pro¬ 
cure the condemnation of the leaders of both people, as be¬ 
ing guilty of high-treason. From that hour many felt that 
Charles was a man without faith, and that an open opposi¬ 
tion could alone save England. 

Of this the leaders of the nation were more firmly con- 
sinced by a fearful catastrophe. In the midst of this agita- 

4 * 


42 


Cromwell’s rauliamen iaiv* life. 


tion and mistrust, on the ]st of November, 1641, an alarm¬ 
ing report suddenly reached London. The Irish, sheltering 
themselves behind the names of the king and queen, holding 
in one hand a commission they pretended to have received 
from Charles, and bearing fire and sword in the other, were 
ravaging the country with fearful desolation. The plot, con¬ 
trived with the greatest secrecy, had broken out in horrible 
massacres. In London and Edinburgh, in town and country, 
the most distressing accounts passed from mouth to mouth, 
and terror filled the hearts of all the Protestants of Great 
Britain. 

The most serious members of the Commons immediately 
called for a Remonstrance to the King, as the nation was .at¬ 
tacked in all that it held most dear. The Remonstrance was 
passed at midnight, of the 22d November, by a majority of 
eleven votes. “ Had it been rejected,” said Oliver, as he 
came out, “I would have sold everything I possess, and 
never seen England more.” 

But it was not Cromwell that was destined to quit Lon¬ 
don. On the 7th cf December a bill was proposed to the 
Commons, that the organization of the militia and the nomi¬ 
nation of its officers should for the future only take place 
with the concurrence of Parliament. This bill in some mea¬ 
sure undermined the royal power, and yet the preservation 
of the liberty and Protestantism of England depended on it. 
The nobility immediately hastened to London from their 
country seats, and rallied round the menaced throne. The 
names of Cavaliers and Roundheads now first began to dis¬ 
tinguish the two parties: the latter deriving their title from 
the shortness of their hair, which was cut close about their 
ears. Their violent contests perpetually disturbed the peace 
of the capital. At the opening of the next year all hearts 
were disquieted by the anticipation of coming events. 

On the 3d of January, (1642,) Charles began the attack 
by calling upon the Lower House to give up to him five of 
its most influential members: Pym, Hampden, Haselrig, 


Cromwell’s parliamentary life. 43 

Holies, and Strode. On the morrow it was announced that 
the King was advancing towards St. Stephen’s, escorted by 
three or four hundred armed men. At his entrance, the 
whole house stood up uncovered. “ Since I see the birds 
are flown,” said he, casting his eyes round on the assembly, 

“ I expect that you will send them to me; otherwise I must 
take my own course to find them.” Cries of “ Privilege 
Privilege !” rose from several parts of the house, as the King 
withdrew. Charles learnt soon after that the people, the 
militia, and even the Thames watermen were preparing to • 
bring back the five members to Westminster in triumph. 

“ What!” said he, “ do these water-rats, too, forsake me !” 
Of all the population of London, Charles thought himself 
most certain of the affection of these boatmen. This device 
having failed, the King left Whitehall on the 10th of Janu¬ 
ary, 1642. 

This was the beginning of the Revolution : the commence- 
ment of the struggle between the Parliament and the King. 
The ruin of the throne was in this movement, and yet it was 
inevitable. The maintenance of the liberty and religion of 
England could not be procured except at this cost. It has 
been said—and let us ever bear it in mind—that the English 
Revolution, by proclaiming the illegality of absolute power, 
did nothing new. It was legitimate. “ If the feudal aris- 
tocracy,” says an eminent author, “ took part in the develop¬ 
ment of nations, it was by struggling against royal tyranny, 
by exercising the rights of resistance, and by maintaining the 
maxims of liberty.”* The commonalty, the middle classes, 
did in the seventeenth century what had hitherto been done 
by the nobles. 

Cromwell was now forty-two years old, and the father of 
six children : Oliver, Richard, and Henry, Bridget, Elizabeth, 
and Mary. He was living quietly, like many other good cit¬ 
izens and loyal subjects, who, as well as he, had never once 
thought of the profession of arms. But new times called 
* Guizot, Hist, tie la Rev. d’Angleterre ; Preface, p. xi. 


44 


Cromwell’s parliamentary life. 


for new measures. Every day these men, who felt the truest 
affection for their country, were disturbed in their homes at 
London, or in their more tranquil rural retreats, by reports 
of the massacre of the Protestants in Ireland, of the King’s 
connivance at it, of his insincerity and falsehood, of his pro¬ 
jects, of the punishments already inflicted on many of their 
brethren, of the acknowledged Popery of the Queen, of the 
semi-Romanism of the King, of the persecutions in Scotland, 
the daily banishment of the best Christians in the kingdom, 
and by other signs and events no less alarming. 

When everything seemed to announce that the Protestants 
of England would ere long be either trampled down by 
Popery or massacred by the sword, these serious men arose, 
and called upon the King, through the Commons, not to de¬ 
ceive the expectations of his subjects. But when they found 
that prince, deaf to their prayers, raising troops to overawe 
the Parliament, and already victorious in several encounters, 
they resolved in a spirit of devotedness, to save with God’s 
assistance their country and their faith, by withdrawing from 
their families and exposing their lives in arms. 

Oliver now exchanged his parliamentary career for another 
that had become more necessary. The Huntingdonshire 
yeoman, who had given the Commons some proofs of his 
eloquence, was about to astonish the army still more by his 
courage and genius. The fervent orator was now to show 
himself a great general, and to become one of the greatest 
statesmen of modern times. 

On the 7th of February, Cromwell contributed £300, a 
large sum for his small fortune, towards the salvation of 
Protestantism and of England. He then joined the parlia¬ 
mentary army with his two sons, respectively twenty and 
sixteen years of age ; and shortly after raised two companies 
of volunteers at Cambridge. The departure of his sons Oliver 
and Richard must have caused great sorrow in the peaceful 
abode of the Huntingdon farmer. With difficulty could these 
young men tear themselves from the embraces of their mother 


cromwell’s parliamentary life. 4a 

find of their sisters. But the hour was come, when their 
country called for the greatest sacrifices. All must now be 
prepared either to stretch their necks to the sword, or to bow 
them beneath the yoke of the Pope. Cromwell’s domestic 
society was a pleasing one; he had a wife whom he loved 
most tenderly; his good mother was still living; he had 
passed the age of ambition; yet he became a soldier. “ You 
have had my money: I hope in Cod I desire to venture my 
skin. So do mine,” said he, with noble simplicity, on a later 
occasion. For the space of seventeen years, from this day 
until that of his death, all his thoughts, however well or ill 
conceived, were for Protestantism, and for the liberty of his 
fellow-citizens. 

It is from this moral point of view that we must study 
Cromwell; this was his ruling principle ; and this alone ex 
plains his whole life. 

Can we look upon the departure of the Huntingdon volun¬ 
teer as an insignificant event ? 

There was a great work to be accomplished : no less than 
the settlement of England upon its double foundations of 
Protestantism and liberty; for on these depended h«r niture 
destinies. 

Where was the man to be found great enough for so im¬ 
portant a task ? 

One day, a member rose and addressed the House in an 
abrupt but warm tone. His appearance was anything but 
courtly, and his dress did not add to his importance. Lord 
Digby leant forward and with astonishment inquired of Hamp¬ 
den, the name of the speaker. Hampden, who was a man 
of excellent abilities, and whom, said Baxter, “ friends and 
enemies acknowledged to be the most eminent for prudence,” 
answered with a smile : “ That sloven whom you see before 
you hath no ornament in his speech ; that sloven, I say, if 
we should ever come to a breach with the King, (which God 
forbid !) in such a case, I say, that sloven will be the greatest 
man in England.” » * 


40 


ckomwell’s parliamentary life. 


The sloven was Oliver Cromwell. To those who like hia 
cousin Hampden, had enjoyed the intimacy of his private 
life, he had already revealed the strength of his will and the 
greatness of his genius; and he was then beginning to mani¬ 
fest both to the nation in his parliamentary life. Ere long, 
in his military and political career, he was to make himself 
known to the world as the greatest man of his age, but at the 
same time as a godly Christian. 


CHAPTER III 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE KING AND THE PARLIAMENT. 

Conquest of Liberty—Beginning of the War—Cromwell’s Frankness— 
Letter to Barnard—Intervention in Favor of Hapton Parish—Doubt¬ 
ful Advantages—Cromwell’s Expedient—Fortune of War changes— 
Cromwell refuses to take part in Disorderly Living—Death of Hamp¬ 
den—The two Parliaments—Battle of Marston Moor—A Letter and an 
Episode—Prudence and Compassion—Cromwell’s Military Character 
—Becomes the Real Chief—Battle of Naseby—The King’s cabinet 
opened—Storming of Bristol—Glory to God !—Christian Union—Dis¬ 
cipline—Piety—King surrenders to the Scots—Ireton—Cromwell’s 
Letter to his Daughter Bridget—King given up to Parliament—Crom¬ 
well’s Illness—Letter to Fairfax—Cromwell and his Soldiers—Unity 
of Man. 

The time had come when one of the noblest vie ories ever 
gained by the human race, was to be achieved. Constitu¬ 
tional liberty was about to be won for all future ages. This 
could not be attained without a terrible struggle—without 
great sacrifices; for it is only by such means, alas! that so¬ 
ciety advances. The despotism about to be struck down 
was destined to furnish one distinguished victim. “ Charles,” 
says a royalist writer, “ struggled ineffectually against the 
force of things ; the age had outstripped him ; it was not his 
nation only, but the whole human race, that dragged him 
along; he desired what was no longer possible. The liberty 
that had been won was first to be swallowed up in a military 
despotism that deprived it of its anarchy ; but what was taken 
from the fathers was restored to the children, and remained 
as a final result to England.* 

# Les Quatre Stuards, by M. tie Chateaubriand. CEuvrea complete*, vi. 


48 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE KING 


On the 22d of August, 1642, at six o’clock in tlie evening, 
the King planted the royal standard at Nottingham, and for 
mally called his subjects to arms ; but the wind, which was 
very tempestuous, blew it down the very night it had been 
set up. At a short distance from the same place, the Earl 
of Essex was organizing the parliamentary army, in which 
Cromwell was immediately made a captain. 

He immediately inspected his troop, and marked the com¬ 
mencement of his military career by that frankness which is 
one of the distinctive features of his character. He was un¬ 
willing to follow the tortuous and hypocritical path of the 
Parliament—fight against the King and pretend at the same 
time that they were marching in his defence. It is Claren¬ 
don himself who gives us this information. “ Soldiers,” said 
he to his company, “ I will not deceive you, nor make you 
believe, as my commission has it, that you are going to fight 
for the King and Parliamerd”* Cromwell carried his frank¬ 
ness even to rudeness : and this, rather than duplicity, is the 
fault we detect in him. He was determined to fight against 
all whom he found opposed to him, whoever they might be. 
He conti med, according to Clarendon’s account: “ If the 
king were in front of me, I would as soon shoot him as an¬ 
other ; if your conscience will not allow you to do as much, 
go and serve elsewhere.” These latter words have been 
doubted ; and in truth Clarendon, or rather those from whom 
he derived the report, may have easily exaggerated what Ol¬ 
iver actually said. But, even if we are to admit the correct¬ 
ness of the report, we may look upon it simply as an energetic 
manner of saying: “Do not be mistaken: we are fighting 
vigainst the king.” 

Cromwell was not simply a captain: his vigilant eye was 
everywhere. He knew how to bathe conspiracies, and give 
sound advice to men whose sentiments differed from his own. 
Mr. Robert Barnard, a gentleman of his acquaintance, but a 
bad Protestant, was favorable to the royalists, and associated 

* Clarendon, Hist. Rebellion, book x. 


AND THE PARLIAMENT. 


49 


with those who frequented suspicious meetings. Oliver wrote 
to him, on the 23d of January, 1643, a letter of advice, in 
which we find another proof of his frankness:—“ Subtlety 
may deceive you; integrity never will. With my heart I 
shall desire that your judgment may alter, and your practice. 
I come only to hinder men from increasing the rent,—from 
doing hurt; but not to hurt any man : nor shall I you; I hope 
you will give me no cause. If you do, I must be pardoned 
what my relation to the public calls for."* This language 
b full of firmness, and at the same time of true charity. 

He particularly busied himself with the protection of those 
who were suffering for their faith. In the county of Norfolk, 
the parishioners of Hapton were much oppressed by an indi¬ 
vidual named Browne, for their attachment to the Gospel. 
On their behalf Cromwell wrote to Mr. Thomas Knyvett, of 
Ashwellthorpe, in the following terms: “London, 27th July, 
1646. ... I am bold to ask your favor on behalf of your 
honest poor neighbors of Hapton, who, as I am informed, are 
in some trouble, and are likely to be put to more, by one 
Robert Browne, your tenant, who, not well pleased with the 
way of these men, seeks their disquiet all he may. 

“ Truly nothing moves me to desire this more than the 
pity I bear them in respect of their honesties, and the trouble 
I hear they are likely to suffer for their consciences. And 
however the world interprets it, I am not ashamed to solicit for 
such as are anywhere under pressure of this kind ; doing even 
as I would be done by. . . . Sir, it will not repent you to pro¬ 
tect these poor men of Hapton from injury and oppression.”! 

It was in this manner that he manifested his brotherly 
charity,—“that charity, which,” according to Milton, “is the 
strongest of all affections, whereby the faithful, as members 
of Christ’s body, mutually love and assist each other.”f 

* Letters and Speeches, Carlyle, i. 158. 
t Gentleman’s Magazine, 1787. Carlyle’s Cromwell, i. 269. 
t Charitas fraternaseu Christiana est omnium maxima; qua fideles, u 
membra Christi, inter se diligunt atque adjuvant. J. Miltonis L octnna 
Christiana, edidit R. Sumner, p 483. 


5 


50 


SCIIISM BETWEEN THE KING 


Oliver had heard the injunction, Relieve the oppressed (Isaiah 
i. 17; Jeremiah xxii. 3); open thy mouth for the dumb in 
the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction (Proverbs 
xxxi. 8), and earnestly fulfilled God’s commandments. 

On the 23d of October, 1642, the battle of Edgehill was 
fought, the indecisive result of which filled London with 
alarm. It was perhaps on this occasion that Cromwell lost 
his eldest son : we shall see hereafter what were the father’s 
feelino’s under this bereavement. 

O 

The winter passed away quietly: in spring the war broke 
out again, with still doubtful success. The legitimate resist¬ 
ance of the Parliament could only be justified and main¬ 
tained by prompt and decisive victories. Cromwell immedi¬ 
ately saw the main cause of weakness in the parliamentary 
army, and found a remedy for it. He knew that to conquer 
a strong moral force, there is required another and one still 
more powerful. Accordingly he began at the beginning. 
“ How can we be otherwise than beaten ?” said he to Hamp¬ 
den. “Your troops are most of them old decayed serving- 
men, and tapsters, and such kind of fellows; and theirs are 
gentlemen’s sons, younger sons, and persons of quality. But 
I will remedy that. I will raise men who will have the fear 
of God before their eyes, and who will bring some conscience 
to what they do ; and I promise you they shall not be beaten.” 
With this design he went through the Eastern Counties, call¬ 
ing upon the young freeholders, with whose piety he was 
acquainted, to take up arms in the cause of God. Fourteen 
squadrons of zealous Protestants were soon raised. It was 
this new element that decided the destinies of the war and of 
England. From that hour the course of events was changed. 

It was not long before Cromwell’s moral and religious 
character manifested itself in the army, and especially so soon 
as he was surrounded with persons animated by the same 
faith. Clarendon informs us that his conduct was in har¬ 
mony with his principles. “ His strict and unsociable humor” 
—it is by such terms that men are often pleased unjustly to 


AND THE PARLIAMENT. 


LI 


designate that Christian spirit to which they are stiangers-— 
“ his strict and unsociable humor would not allow him to 
keep company with the other officers in their jollities and 
excesses, which,” adds Clarendon, “often made him ridicu¬ 
lous and contemptible.” This historian afterwards informs 
us that Oliver, instead of frequenting these dissolute meet- 
ings, passed his leisure hours in singing psalms with the offi¬ 
cers and soldiers who participated in his religious convic¬ 
tions, and in attending with them on the preaching of the 
Word. 

There is nothing more characteristic than the judgment 
here passed on Cromwell. The illustrious Clarendon does 
not give it precisely as his own, but he has very much the 
air of agreeing with it. If Oliver had been a gambler and a 
drunkard ; if he had practised the perfidious art of seducing 
innocence; if he had taken part in jollities and excesses, it 
would have been all very well: he would have been a good 
Cavalier. These are the men whom the world loves, and for 
whom historians and romance-writers* keep all their favor. 
But he loved the assemblings of the saints, according to St 
Paul’s command. In his hours of repose, he delighted to fol¬ 
low the precepts of this apostle : Be not drunk 'with wine , 
wherein is excess; hut he filled with the Spirit; speaking to 
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing 
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. (Ephes. v. 18, 
19.) From that hour he was held a contemptible man, and 
for two hundred years all the servile, imitating race of histo¬ 
rians have continued to repeat this absurdity, not to say im¬ 
piety. Contemptible! says Clarendon. It may well be so: 
but Cromwell is not the only man who has been undervalued 
for avoiding bad company, and for not having trod in the 
way of sinners. David, Saint Paul, and all Christian men 
have been contemned like him, and for the same reasons. 
But it is written in the revelations of God : IFoe unto them 
(hat call evil good, and good evil. (Isaiah v. 20.) We dc not 

* Ex. gr. Sir Walter Scott. 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE KINO 


t>2 

think that these false judgments, thus stigmatized by the Di¬ 
vine Word, have ever been practised on a larger scale than 
in the case of Cromwell. 

On the 18th of June a skirmish of cavalry took place some 
few miles from Oxford. One of the parliamentarian chiefs, 
who was usually in the foremost rank, was seen slowly quit¬ 
ting the field of battle before the end of the action: his head 
hung down, his hand was leaning on his horse’s neck. “ He 
is certainly wounded,” said one of the bystanders. It was 
Hampden, Oliver’s cousin. He died on the 24th of the same 
month, and the sorrowing people named him the Father of his 
Country. Who can say what influence, had he lived, he might 
have exercised over the developments of the Revolution? 

Charles, wishing to give the appearance of legality to his 
power, summoned the two Houses of Parliament to meet at 
Oxford, and on the 22d of January, 1644, forty-five Peers 
and a hundred and eighteen members of the Commons 
obeyed his call. But the Parliament then sitting in London 
counted twenty-two Peers and two hundred and eighty mem¬ 
bers of the Lower House, besides about one hundred more 
who were absent on the service of the State. The King, who 

in conversation with his courtiers, called his Parliament at 

* 

one time a “ mongrel Parliament,” and at another, “ cow¬ 
ardly and seditious,” adjourned it on the 16th of April. 

In January, the Scots had entered England, marching 
knee-deep in snow. In conjunction with the Parliamentary 
troops, they commenced the siege of York, defended by the 
Marquis of Newcastle. Prince Rupert flew to its relief; and 
on the 2d of July, 1644, took place the battle of Marston 
Moor. The conflict was bloody, but victory finally crowned 
the Parliamentary army, owing to the invincible courage of 
its soldiers, and particularly of Cromwell’s cavalry, on whom 
the name of Ironsides was conferred on the very field of bat¬ 
tle. The enemy lost more than a hundred flags, which it was 
proposed to send to the Parliament; but they were tom in 
pieces by the conquerors, and bound as trophies round their 


AND THE PARLIAMENT, 


53 


arras. The King lost all the north of England, and the Queen 
escaped to France. “If you leave your place, you’ll lose it,” 
was the message sent to her a short time before by Cardinal 
Richelieu. 

The following letter gives an account of one of the most 
interesting episodes of this great victory :— 


“ To my loving Brother, Colonel Valentine Walton: These. 


“ 5th July, 1644. 

“ Dear Sir, 

“ It’s our duty to sympathize in all mercies; and to praise 
the Lord together in chastisements or trials, that so we may 
sorrow together. 


“ Truly England and the Church of God hath had a great 
favor from the Lord, in this great victory given unto us, such 
as the like never was since this War began. It had all the 
evidences of an absolute victory obtained by the Lord’s bless¬ 
ing upon the Godly Party principally. We never charged 
but we routed the enemy. The Left Wing which I com¬ 
manded, being our own horse, saving a few Scots in our rear, 
beat all the Prince’s horse. God made them as stubble to 
our swords. We charged their regiments of foot with our 
horse, and routed all we charged. The particulars I cannot 
relate now; but I believe, of twenty thousand the Prince hath 
not four thousand left. Give glory, all the glory, to God. 

“ Sir, God hath taken away your eldest son by a cannon- 
shot. It brake his leg. We were necessitated to have it 
cut off, whereof he died. 

“ Sir, you know my own trials this way; but the Lord 
supported me in this. That the Lord took him* into the hap¬ 
piness we all pant for and live for. There is your precious 
child full of glory, never to know sin or sorrow any more. 
He was a gallant young man, exceedingly gracious. God 
crive you His comfort. Before his death he was so full of 
tomfort, that to Frank Russel and myself he could not ex- 


* His own son, Oliver, who had been killed not long before. 

5* 


*4 


SCHISM BETWEEN TIIE KINO 


press it, * It was so great above his pain.’ This he said to 
us. Indeed it was admirable. A little after he said, one 
thing lay upon his spirit. I asked him, What that was. He 
told me it was. That God had not suffered him to be any 
more the executioner of His enemies. At his fall, his horse 
being killed with the bullet, and, as I am informed, tlnee 
horses more, I am told he bid them open to right and 
left, that he might see the rogues run. Truly he was ex¬ 
ceedingly beloved in the Army, of all that knew him. But 
few knew him; for he was a precious young man, tit foi 
God. You have cause to bless the Lord. He is a glorious 
Saint in Heaven ; wherein you ought exceedingly to rejoice. 
Let this drink up your sorrow; seeing these are not feigned 
words to comfort you, but the thing is so real and undoubted 
a truth. You may do all things by the strength of Christ. 
Seek that, and you shall easily bear your trial. Let this 
public mercy to the Church of God make you to forget your 
private sorrow. The Lord be your strength : so prays, 

“ Your truly faithful, and loving brother, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

In this kind manner he consoles a bereaved father, while 
the smoke still covers the battle-field. He lays aside all thi 
engrossing cares of the general to fulfil the duties of th? 
Christian. This letter bears indubitable marks of a soldier’s 
bluntness, but also of the sympathy of a child of God. In 
Oliver these two elements were never far apart. 

While Cromwell, by his furious charges, was deciding the 
battle of Marston Moor, the Earl of Essex was sufferino- 
great reverses in Cornwall, and his army was forced to ca¬ 
pitulate. The former rose as the latter fell: and from the 
very beginning of the Avar, clear-sighted men might have 
been able to foresee that he was destined to be the real leader. 
There Avas no officer in the army Avho braA’ed danger with 
greater intrepidity. In the very heat of the action, he pre- 
* Ellis, Original 1 Hers, (First Scries.) iii. £99. Carlyle, i. 207. 


AND THE PARLIAMENT. 


55 


served an admirable presence of mind. He led his seldim 
up to within a few paces of the enemy, and never allowed 
them to fire until their shots were sure to lake effect. “ His 
actions,” says Chateaubriand, “had all the rapidity and the 
effect of lightning.” At the same time he maintained the 
strictest discipline in the army. The troops under his com¬ 
mand thought themselves sure of victory, and, in fact, he 
never lost a battle. “ There was a certain invincibility in his 
genius, like the new ideas of which he was the champion.’”" 
Milton furnishes us with the key to Cromwell’s superiority: 
“From his thorough exercise in the art of self-knowledge, 
he had either exterminated or subjugated his domestic foes, 
his idle hopes, his fears, and his desires. Having thus learnt 
to engage, and subdue, and triumph over himself, he took 
the field against his outward enemies, a soldier practised in 
all the discipline of war.”f 

In 1645, an ordinance—the famous “self-denying ordi¬ 
nance”—excluding all members of Parliament from com¬ 
mands in the army, passed both Houses, and Cromwell pre¬ 
pared to take leave of his general, Fairfax. But circum¬ 
stances, which seemed to proceed from the hand of God, pre¬ 
vented him. Flostilities broke out afresh, and Oliver did not 
think it right at such a moment to return his sword into the 
scabbard. He rushed upon the enem} r at the head of his 
Puritans, and everywhere the Cavaliers fled before him. 
Fairfax declared that he could not dispense with him. 

On the 14th of June the decisive battle of Nascby, so fatal 
to the royalists, took place. The King fought desperately, 
but lost his private cabinet of papers and letters, which was 
sent to London, where it was carefully examined by the Par¬ 
liament. In it they found the clearest proofs that, notwith¬ 
standing his frequent denials, he was perpetually soliciting 
the aid of foreign princes, and that he had protested against 

♦ Chateaubriand, Les Quatre Stuards. 

T In se prius imperator, sui victor, de se potissimi’.m triumphare didice* 
rat. Miltoni Defensio Secunda, 106, 107. 


56 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE KINO 


the name of Parliament which he had given to ihe two 
Houses. These documents, which were published under the 
title of “ The King’s Cabinet Opened,” entirely ruined Charles 
in the minds of his people. There is a justice in heaven 
which permits neither kings nor the humblest of their subjects 
to live by falsehood and to make a mockery of oaths. By 
his deception and perjury, Charles had forfeited the respect 
of many who were desirous to maintain the dignity of the 
throne, and from this period no hope remained. 

Prince Rupert, the King’s nephew, still resisted, and had 
shut himself up in Bristol, which was taken by assault. Of 
this most important victory Cromwell forwarded an account 
to Parliament, on the 14th of September, 1645. We sup¬ 
press the narrative of military transactions, and give only the 
conclusion of the report, in "which we find united the charac¬ 
teristics of a successful general and of an humble Christian:— 

“ For the Honorable William Lenthall, Speaker of the Com¬ 
mons House of Parliament: These. 

• •••••• 9 9 9 • 

“ I have given you a true, but not a full account of this great 
business; wherein he that runs may read, That this is none 
other than the work of God. He must be a very Atheist 
that doth not acknowledge it. 

“ It may be thought that some praises are due to those 
gallant men, of whose valor so much mention is made :— 
their humble suit to you and all that have an interest in this 
blessing, is, That in the remembrance of God’s praises they 
be forgotten. It’s their joy that they are instruments of 
G )d’s glory, and their country’s good. It’s their honor that 
G od vouchsafes to use them. Sir, they that have been em • 
ployed in this service know, that faith and prayer obtained 
this city for you : I do not say ours only, but of the people 
of God with you and all England over, who have wrestled 
with God for a blessing in this very thing. Our desires are 


AND HIS PARLIAMENT. 


57 


that God may be glorified by the same spirit of faith by 
which we ask all our sufficiency, and have received it. It is 
meet that He have all the praise. 

“ Presbyterians, Independents, all have here the same 
spirit of faith and prayer; the same presence and answer; 
they agree here, have no names of difference: pity it is it 
should be otherwise anywhere ! All that believe have the 
real unity, which is most glorious; because inward, and 
spiritual, in the Body [which is the true Church], and to the 
Head [which is Jesus Christ]. For being united in forms, 
commonly called Uniformity , every Christian will, for peace- 
sake, study and do, as far as conscience will permit. And 
for brethren, in things of the mind we look for no compul¬ 
sion, but that of light and reason. In other things, God 
hath put the sword in the Parliament’s hands—for the ter¬ 
ror of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well. If 
any plead exemption from that,—he knows not the Gospel: 
if any would wring that out of your hands, or steal it from 
you, under what pretence soever, I hope they shall do it 
without effect. That God may maintain it in your hands, 
and direct you in the use thereof, is the prayer of 

“Your humble servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

These are remarkable w r ords. Glory to God in heaven— 
union among the children of God upon earth—such are the 
General’s two grand thoughts. How far superior he shows 
himsef to the petty quarrels which then divided the Presby¬ 
terians and the Independents! At the same time, he distin¬ 
guishes with great precision between spiritual and temporal 
things. According to his views, love should prevail in the 
one ; the sword, in the other. Full of charity towards his 
brethren, rejecting every restraint upon religion, and pro¬ 
claiming the great principles of liberty of conscience, how 
terrible he appears with the sword in his hand! 

* Rushworth, vi. 85; Carlyle, L 248. 


6CH « M BETWEEN THE KING 


bt< 

Oliver did not s ow severity towards his enemies only. 
His justice was in -jxiblc, even when it called upon him to 
punish his own ’ dowers. After quitting Bristol, he took 
several other st ng places by storm, and became renowned 
for his sieges. At Winchester some of the captive enemies 
having comp' med of being plundered contrary to the arti¬ 
cles of capb Jation, he directed that the soldiers accused of 
this disord / should be tried : six of them were found guilty, 
one of w) jm was hanged, and the five others were sent to the 
royalist Governor of Oxford, who returned them “ with an 
acknowledgment of the Lieutenant-general’s nobleness.” 

All who were about him bore testimony to his piety. In 
reference to this, Mr. Peters writes that he “ had spent much 
time with God in prayer the night before the storming of 
Basing House;—and seldom fights without some Text of 
f cripture to support him. This time he rested upon that 
fiessed Ydord of God written in the 115th Psalm, 8th verse, 
They that make them are like unto them ; so is every one that 
trusteth in them. Which, with some verses going before, was 
now accomplished.”* Every day of his life he retired to read 
the Scriptures and to pray. Those who watched him nar¬ 
rowly relate, that after having perused a chapter in the Bible, 
he was wont to prostrate himself with his face on the ground, 
and with tears pour out his soul before God. Who can 
charge with hypocrisy these inward movements of a soul, 
which pass all knowledge ? For what man knoweth the things 
of a man , save the spirit of man which is in him ? 

The King, who had retired to Oxford, left it in disguise on 
the 27tli of April, 1646. He -wandered from castle to castle, 
and from one county to another, until, not knowing what to 
do, he surrendered to the Scots army at Newark. 

One of the most distinguished officers of the Parliamentary 
army was Colonel Ireton. He had studied at Trinity Col¬ 
lege, Oxford, had distinguished himself in the army by his 
bravery, and had risen rapidly. He had long known Crom- 

* Cited in Carlyle, i. 258. 


AND THE PARLIAMENT. 


59 


well, and had made the acquaintance of his daughter Bridget, 
who, by her decision of character, was more like her father 
than was her younger sister Elizabeth, afterwards Mrs. Clay- 
pole. On the loth of January, 1646, lreton married Crom¬ 
well’s daughter. On the 25th of October, in the same year, 
her father wrote the following letter to her, when as yet she 
did not exceed twenty-two years of age, touching some of the 
duties of the Christian life. It is short and simple; but per¬ 
haps no parent at the head of an army lias ever written one 
more suitable and more affecting. 

“ For my beloved Daughter, Bridget Ire on, at Cornbury, 
4 he General's Quarters: Tt esc. 

“ London, 25th October, 164G. 

“ Dear Daughter, 

“ I write not to thy husband; partly to avoid trouble, for 
one line of mine begets many of his, which I doubt makes 
him sit up too late; partly because I am myself indisposed 
[i. e. not in the moodl\ at this time, having some other con¬ 
siderations. 

“ Your friends at Ely are well: your sister Claypole is, I 
trust in mercy, exercised with some perplexed thoughts. She 
sees her own vanity and carnal mind ; bewailing it: she seeks 
after (as I hope also) what will satisfy. And thus to be a 
seeker is to be one of the best sect next to a finder; and such 
a one shall every faithful humble seeker be at the end. 
Happy seeker, happy finder. 

Who ever tasted that the Lord is gracious, without some 
sense of self, vanity, and badness ? Who ever tasted that 
graciousness of His, and could go less in desire [i. e. become 
less desirous], —less pressing after full enjoyment ? Dear 
Heart, press on; let not thy Husband, let not anything cool 
thy affections after Christ. I hope he [ thy husband] will be 
an occasion to inflame them. That which is best worthy of 
love in thy Husband is that of the image of Christ he bears. 


60 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE KINO 


Look on that, and love it best, and all the rest for that. 1 
pray for thee and him ; do so for me. 

“ My service and dear affections to the General and Gene- 
raless. I hear she is very kind to thee; it adds to all othei 
obligations. I am 

“Thy dear Father, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

Delicacy of sentiment, the domestic virtues, and paternal 
love, are among the features bv which Cromwell is best char- 
acterized. 

Towards the end of the year 1646, the Parliament offered 
the Scots army £400,000 on condition of their returning into 
their own country. The terms were accepted, and the King 
thus fell into the hands of the English Parliament. 

At the beginning of 1648, Cromwell fell dangerously ill: 
on his recovery he wrote the following letter to the com¬ 
mander-in-chief :— 

“ For his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax , General of the 
Parliament's Armies, at Windsor: These. 

“ London. 7th March, 1648. 

“ Sir, 

“ It hath pleased God to raise me out of a dangerous sick¬ 
ness ; and I do most willingly acknowledge that the Lord 
hath, in this visitation, exercised the bowels of a father to¬ 
wards me. I received in myself the sentence of death, that 
I might learn to trust in Him that raiseth from the dead, and 
have no confidence in the flesh. It’s a blessed thing to die 
daily. For what is there in this world to be accounted of! 
The best men according to the flesh, are things lighter than 
vanity. I find this only good, To love the Lord and his poor 
despised people; to do for them, and to be ready to suffer 
with them:—and he that is found worthy of this hath ob- 
* Harleian MSS. No. 6988, fol. 224; Carlyle, i. 277. 


AND THE PARLIAMENT. 


61 


laincd great favor from the Lord; and he that is established 
in this shall (being confirmed to Christ and the rest of the 
Body, i. e. ‘ the Church ') participate in the glory of a Resur¬ 
rection which will answer all. 

“ Sir, I must thankfully confess your favor in your last 
Letter. I see I am not forgotten; and truly, to be kept in 
your remembrance is very great satisfaction to me; for I can 
say in the simplicity of ray heart, I put a high and true* value 
upon your love,—which when I forget, I shall cease to be a 
grateful and an honest man. 

“ I most humbly beg my service may be presented to youi 
Lady, to whom I wish all happiness, and establishment in 
the truth. Sir, my prayers are for you, as becomes 

“ Your Excellency’s 

“ Most humble servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

This letter from one general to another characterizes alike 
the men and their times. 

Such was Oliver in the midst of battle. His troops, not 
less than their general, have been the object of bitter attack 
on the part of worldly-minded writers. This we can under¬ 
stand : proofs are now before us which explain their conduct. 
Take, for instance, the manner in which the orators of Exeter 
Hall are treated in Parliament, although, even in the opinion 
of their adversaries, they are some of the most worthy men 
in England. If soldiers lead a disorderly and irreligious life, 
provided they are brave, there are writers who can never be 
sufficiently loud in their praise; but soldiers, professing 
Christianity, merit, according to their views, nothing but 
blame and ridicule. 

Cromwell’s regiment, after the battle of Edgehill, gave 
decided testimony of the spirit by wffiich it was animated. 
Wishing to form what they called “a gathered church,” the 
officers looked about for a fitting pastor, and to the honor of 
* Sloanc MSS. 1519, fol. 79; Carlyle, i. 324. 


62 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE KINO 


their Christian character selected Richard Baxter, the most 
eminent minister of the seventeenth century. The author of 
the Saints’ Best was equally distinguished for his blameless 
manner of life, his lively piety, and his extraordinary talents. 
Where can we now find a regiment that would invite such a 
man to take charge of their spiritual concerns ? Although 
Baxter was rather royalist and Episcopalian in his sentiments, 
Cromwell and his followers looked only to his faith and holy 
life. He was invited to Cambridge, where Oliver happened 
then to be quartered, and a call signed by all the officers was 
put into his hands. Baxter refused; for which he afterwards 
expressed his deep regret. “ These very men,” he says, 
“ that then invited me to be their pastor, were the men that 
afterwards headed much of the army, and some of them were 
the forwardest in all our changes; which made me wish that 
I had gone among them, however it had been interpreted; 
for then all the Jire was in one spark.” 

Oliver not only desired a faithful preacher for his soldiers, 
but required them to observe a Christian behavior and an 
exact discipline. In these latter objects he succeeded admi¬ 
rably. One of the journals of the day, quoted by the royalist 
Southey in his elegant little biography of Cromwell, says of 
these troops, “ no man swears but he pays his twelvepence ; 
if he be drunk, he is set in the stocks, or worse; if one calls 
the other round-head, he is cashiered ; insomuch that the 
countries where they come leap for joy of them, and come 
in and join with them. How happy were it, if all the forces 
were thus disciplined!” 

The piety generally prevailing among Oliver’s soldiers has 
been so much ridiculed for two centuries past, and the public 
opinion has been so misled on this point, that it will be long 
ero men’s minds will be in a condition to appreciate them 
aright. We, however, will never consent to call good evil, 
or pretend that men can gather grapes of thorns or figs of 
thistles. In our views, the heart and life form a great and 
profound harmony. The act cannot be goo6, unless the feel* 


AND THE PARLIAMENT, 


03 


ing be good also; the words cannot be true unless the thought 
be true likewise. When I meet with a pure stream, I con¬ 
clude that it springs from a clear fountain. Man, thinking, 
speaking, and acting, forms an indivisible unity. A corrupt 
tree cannot bring forth good fruit. This has been forgotten 
in the case of Oliver Cromwell. 


CHAPTER IV. 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT AND THE ARMY 


The Two Parties, Presbyterians and Independents—Claims of the Army 
—Joyce—The King’s Leaning towards the Independents—Army Man¬ 
ifesto—Religious Liberty—Eleven Members accused—Errors—Influ¬ 
ence of Oppression—Unlawful Intervention of the Presbyterians—Op¬ 
position of the Army—Independent Influence—Cromwell favorably 
disposed towards the King—Charles’s Blindness—Letter found in tho 
Saddle—The Silk Garter and the Hempen Halter—Cromwell despairs 
of Charles—The King’s Flight—He reaches the Isle of Wight—Crom¬ 
well suppresses the Levellers—Treaty with the Scots—Charles’s Reply 
to Parliament—The Pit and he that diggeth it. 

There were now two parties in England, which every day 
assumed a more distinct character: the Presbyterians and 
the Independents, or Parliament and the Army. “ Modern 
readers, mindful of the French Revolution,” says Carlyle, 
“ will perhaps compare these Presbyterians and Indepen¬ 
dents to the Gironde and the Mountain. And there is an 
analogy; yet with differences. With a great difference in 
the situations; with the difference, too, between Englishmen 
and Frenchmen, which is always considerable; and then with 
the difference between believers in Jesus Christ and believers 
in Jean Jacques, which is still more considerable.”* 

Some of the leading men of the Presbyterian party in Par¬ 
liament (Holies, Stapleton, Harley, Sir William Waller, &c.) 
were old officers, who, being unsuccessful under Lord Essex, 
had no great love for the victorious army or its brave general. 
They wished to disband it; but the soldiers, who had shed 

* Letters and Speeches, i. 209. 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT AND THE ARMV. 65 

their blood in the lawful defence of their country, claimed, 
prior to their disbanding, not recompense and reward, but 
simply their due—forty-three weeks arrears of pay. Oliver, 
who had resumed his seat in Parliament, was deputed by 
that body to go to the army and endeavor to quiet it. Op 
his return, he received the thanks of the House. 

On the 2d of June, (1647,) an unexpected event occurred 
to accelerate the course of events. A body of five hundred 
men, under the orders of Cornet Joyce, proceeded to Holmby 
House, where the King was staying, and brought him off 
alon£ with them. Charles flattering himself that this strug- 
gle between the Presbyterians and Independents would end 
in the extirpation of both, and greatly delighted with any¬ 
thing that would imbitter their disputes, willingly accom¬ 
panied the soldiers. 

Another motive led him to incline to the side of the Inde¬ 
pendents and of the Army. It was held impossible for 
Charles to come to an understanding with the Presbyterians, 
considering, as he did, that Episcopal government was essen¬ 
tial to Christianity, while the Presbyterians were bound by 
their Covenant to abolish Episcopacy. On the other hand, 
there was always an opening for some arrangement with the 
Independents, who were disposed to use all their exertions 
with Parliament to tolerate Episcopacy, as well as the other 
sects. They were convinced that if the opposite party once 
got the upper hand, they would tyrannize over conscience, 
as much as the bishops themselves had done in the early 
years of Charles’s reign. In fact the Presbyterians, when¬ 
ever they offered to treat with the King, always proposed 
that steps should be taken to suppress the Independent 
opinions, as well as those of other sectaries.* 

On the 10th of June, the principal officers of the army 
(Fairfax, Cromwell, Hammond, Ireton, Lambert, and others) 
wrote to the Lord Mayor and Common Council of the City 


♦ Neale, History of the Puritans, ii. 410. London, 1837. 

6 * 


OG SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT 

of London,* demanding satisfaction for their undoubted 
claims as soldiers ; protesting against the misrepresentations 
of which they had been made the victims; declaring that 
their cause could not be separated from that of the Parlia¬ 
ment and the people; and desiring “ a settlement of the 
peace of the kingdom and of the liberties of the subject,” 
according to the promises made before the war,—promises 
for which many of their dearest companions in arms had lost 
their lives. 

But the principal point of the army-manifesto was religious 
liberty. The Independents consented that the Presbyterian 
religion should be the religion of the nation ; thus, granting 
to the latter body a superiority over their own party ; but 
they claimed for all Christians the full enjoyment of civil 
and religious rights. This, says Lord Clarendon, w r as their 
great charter, and they were determined not to lay down 
their arms until they had obtained it. The Independents had 
shed their blood for Parliament in maintaining the liberties 
of England, and they thought it strange they should be al¬ 
lowed no other liberty than that of expatriation. The Pres¬ 
byterians in the English Revolution represented, generally, 
order, moderation, and respect for the Constitution; but the 
Independents, it must be acknowledged, knew much better 
than they the great principles of religious liberty. If w r e 
call to mind the manner in which Presbyterianism afterwards 
vanished from England, leaving behind it only a small num¬ 
ber of Unitarian congregations, we cannot help thinking that 
some bad principle must have crept into this party. Scot¬ 
land is the true country for this system of church-constitu¬ 
tion, which has never been able to maintain its footing on the 
south of the Tweed, though it has borne the fairest fruits in 
the north, and is now producing fairer fruits than ever.f 

* Carlyle, i. 29G-300. 

+ A young “ Presbyterian Church in England,” professing the princi¬ 
ples of the Free Church of Scotland, at present numbers about eighty 
congregations; and the good spirit by which it is animated would seem 
Vo be a warrant of its progress and duration. 


AND THK ARMY. 


67 


The officers of the army, in their petition to the Lord 
Mayor and city of London, continue thus :—“ We have said 
before, and profess it now, we desire no alteration of the civil 
government. As little do we desire to interrupt, or in the 
least to intermeddle with the settling of the Presbyterian 
government. Nor did we seek to open a way for licentious 
liberty, under pretence of obtaining ease for tender con¬ 
sciences. We profess, as ever in these things, when once the 
state has made a settlement, we have nothing to say but to 
submit or suffer. Only we could wish that every good citi¬ 
zen, and every man who walks peaceably in a blameless con¬ 
versation, and is beneficial to the Commonwealth, might have 
liberty and encouragement; this being according to the true 
policy of all states, and even to justice itself.” 

This was no doubt written by Cromwell, and it is impos¬ 
sible to find terms at once more just, wise, and moderate. 
Perhaps in no other case has a victorious party employed lan¬ 
guage similar to it. Every politician and age will know how 
to appreciate such examples. 

On the 16 th of June, the army, still at Saint Albans, ac¬ 
cused of treason eleven members of the House of Commons: 
Holies, Waller, Stapleton, and eight others, all of whom asked 
leave to retire for six months. 

This is one of the epochs in the Protector’s life that has 
been the most severely handled by English, French, and Ger¬ 
man historians. “ The old narratives,” says Mr. Carlyle,* 
“ written all by baffled enemies of Cromwell, (Holies, Waller, 
tfec.) are full of mere blind rage, distraction, and darkness ; the 
new narratives, believing only in ‘ Machiavelism,’ &c., disfig¬ 
ure the matter still more. Common history, old and new, 
represents Cromwell as having underhand,—in a most skilful 
and indeed prophetic manner,—fomented or originated all 
this commotion of the elements ; steered his way through it 
by‘hypocrisy,’ by ‘master-strokes of duplicity,’and such 
like. As is the habit hitherto of history.” 

* Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, i. 287. 


68 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT 


To this we will add the opinion if Lilburne, the most un- 
manageable and least credulous of the republicans, who had 
several sharp altercations with Cromwell, and who wrote to 
him on the 25tli of March in this same year in the following 
terms :—“ I have looked upon you, as among the powerful 
ones of England, as a man with heart perfectly pure, per¬ 
fectly free from all personal views.” Such testimony as this 
is deserving of far more confidence than the insinuations 01 
the clamors of Ludlow and the Protector’s other enemies.* 

We have no desire to make an indiscriminate apology for 
Cromwell and his friends; but we wish to be equitable, and 
to take into consideration the influences by which he must 
have been acted upon. There was at that time a twofold op¬ 
pression in England. The friends of liberty had been op¬ 
pressed by the tendency of the crown towards absolute 
power; and the popular independent church had been har¬ 
assed from the reign of Elizabeth, and even prior to that, by 
the state-church. Oppression may sometimes have a good 
effect upon the sufferers, but it also has a bad one. In Eng¬ 
land it gave greater energy to the love of liberty and to the 
religious life; but it also produced in the friends of civil and 
religious freedom a certain rudeness, acrimony, violence, and 
exaggeration. This will be found at all times in political and 
religious parties which have long been trodden down. To 
whom must we ascribe the blame ? Are not the oppressors 
far more guilty than their victims ? Cromwell and his party 
would no longer permit themselves to be checked, not even 
by their old friends. The torrent, kept for a time within its 
channel, bursts forth with the greater fury, -when once the 
banks are broken through. It overthrown every obstacle, and 
deep gulfs mark its devastating course. 

Parliament was now in the greatest perplexity, not know¬ 
ing what to do to satisfy the Presbyterians and the City of 
London on the one hand, the Independents and the army on 

* M. Guizot seems to have placed too much confidence in Ludlow’i 
Memoirs. 


AND THE ARMY. 


09 

the other The Presbyterians called upon God to incline the 
hearts of ilic Scotch to come to their support. It would seem 
that their ecclesiastical system was an exotic plant in Eng¬ 
land, which could not be kept alive without the hand that 
had first transported it thither. On the 26 th of July, some 
citizens of London attached to that system, forgetful of the 
character of moderation which belonged to them, went down 
to Westminster, accompanied by a mob of apprentices and 
mechanics, to demand that the actual officers of the army 
should be dismissed, and their commissions given to men de¬ 
voted to the Presbyterian cause. They entered the House of 
Commons with their hats on, calling out, ‘ Vote, vote !” and 
did not retire until the House had complied with their wishes. 

Upon this the Duke of Manchester, speaker of the House 
of Lords, with eight peers, and Lenthall, speaker of the 
House of Commons, attended by a hundred members, pri¬ 
vately withdrew from Westminster, and joined the army. At 
their request the soldiers marched to London and restored 
the fugitives to their seats, when it was resolved to exclude 
from Parliament the ringleaders of the late tumult. From 
that time the Independent influence supplanted the Presby¬ 
terian in the Lower House. 

At first they showed themselves well-disposed towards 
Charles, and Oliver made a most temperate use of the power 
which the course of events had placed in his hands. One of 
his cousins, John Cromw r ell, had heard him say at-Hampton 
Court: “I think the king the most injured prince in the 
world, but this,”—touching his sword—“ shall right him.” 
He shrank from a revolution: he sought to prevent it, and to 
re-establish his sovereign in the enjoyment of a legitimate 
authority. Everything shows that he was sincere in this de¬ 
sire. “May God be pleased to look upon me,” said he, “ac- 
jording to the sincerity of my heart towmrds the king.” He 
did not as yet despair of Charles, and he desired to save this 
prince not less from the excesses of his own despotism than 
from those of the Levellers. This even the prejudiced his- 


70 


SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT 


torian of the Four Stuarts seems to acknowledge.'**' Olivei 
and Ireton had frequent interviews with the King and his 
agents, and the propositions they made were, in the actual 
state of affairs, very equitable. Parliament had required that 
the regal authority should be limited for twenty years; 
Cromwell asked for ten only, and declared that the King’s 
conscience ought to be left free as regarded episcopacy. Sir 
John Berkeley, one of Charles’s attendants, entreated him to 
accept these terms; and hence, for some time, strong hopes 
were entertained of a pacification. Cromwell’s wife and 
daughters were presented to the King at Hampton Court, 
where the latter received them with great honors. Even the 
general himself and Ireton were seen walking with him in the 
Park, and were known to be often closeted with him. 

It was this monarch’s destiny to be the contriver of his 
own ruin. The graciousness displayed at Hampton Court 
was mere treachery. Misled and perhaps excited by mes¬ 
sages from France, conveyed to him by Mr. Ashburnham, 
the King rejected the most favorable offers. “ I can turn the 
scale which way I please,” said he to his agents; “ and that 
party must sink which I abandon.” “ Sire,” replied Berke¬ 
ley, “ a crown so near lost was never recovered on easict 
vOrms.” Charles in fact did turn the scale, . . . but to his 
own destruction. 

Negotiations were not yet terminated; the King even ap¬ 
peared desirous of resuming them; and spoke of giving Crom¬ 
well the order of the Garter and the command of the army, 
when information was sent to this great leader, that in the 
course of the same day a letter addressed to the queen would 
be dispatched for France, carefully sewn up in the flaps of a 
saddle, which a man, not in the secret, would carry on his 
head, about ten o’clock at night, to the Blue Boar, in IIol- 
born, whence it would be forwarded for France by wav of 
Dover. . 

Cromwell and Ireton at once determined to seize this op 
* Chateaubriand, Les Quatre Stuards, p. 119. 


AND THE ARMY. 


portunity of learning the King's thoughts; for a feeling of 
uneasiness had constantly pursued them amidst all his prom 
ises and favors. They left Windsor, disguised as private 
soldiers, and on reaching the tavern, placed a trooper they 
had brought with them on watch at the door, sat down, and 
called lor some beer. At ten o’clock the messenger appeared ; 
they seized the saddle under the pretext that they had orders 
to search everything, carried it into the inn, ripped up the 
lining, found the letter, closed up the saddle again, and re¬ 
turned it to the terrified messenger, saying that it was all 
right, that he was an honest fellow, and might continue his 
journey without fear. 

The impatient Generals then withdrew to a private room, 
and opened 'the letter. “ My time is comeat last,” wrote the 
King. “ I am now the man whose favor they court. I in- 
cline rather to treat with the Scotch than with the English 
army. For the rest, I alone understand my position; be 
quite easy as to the concessions I may grant; when the time 
comes, I shall know very well how to treat these rogues, and 
instead of a silken garter, I will fit them with a hempen hal¬ 
ter.” Ireton and Cromwell looked at each other. This was 
the truth, then, as regarded Charles, and what the nation 
might expect of him. With perfidious hand he had rent 
the compact which united him to England. He no longer 
possessed any moral value in the eyes of his people. All 
confidence and respect were lost: and yet he was still a king. 
The two chiefs left the Blue Boar with the deepest emotion, 
and rode hastily back to Windsor. Not long after, Crom- 
w'ell waited upon Mr. Ashburnham, one of the King’s attend¬ 
ants, and declared that he was now satisfied that his majesty 
could not be trusted. 

From this time the separation between Charles and .ii 
future Protector—between the King and England—wa. 
complete. The letter enclosed in the saddle was a divorce 
between his people and the unhappy monarch, who, by r* 
fusing a garter, conferred a crown. 







SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT 


It was not long before he perceived that things had changed. 
His most trusty servants received orders to depart; his guards 
were doubled; his walks restricted; and Cromwell wrote 
with uneasiness to Colonel Whalley, that “ there were ru 
mors abroad of some intended attempt upon his Majesty's 
person.” The King’s anxiety grew more painful every day; 
a trivial circumstance of a very different nature led him to 
take a decisive step. One night, while agitated by painful 

dreams, his lamp suddenly 'went out.He resolved to 

fly, but whither ? He gave a woman five hundred pounds, 
the half of all he possessed, and commissioned her to go to 
London and consult the famous astrologer, William Lilly. 
But he did not wait the return of his messenger, and the 
oracles which the stars might give. Anonymous letters 
pressed him to escape. On the 11th of November, at nine 
in the evening, he left his chamber, attended by a single ser¬ 
vant, and quitted the palace, the park, the forest, without 
the least difficultv. It seemed as if there were a hand be- 
hind him, urging him forward, and another before him clear¬ 
ing the way. Were not these two mysterious hands the hands 
of Cromwell ? Convinced that everything was finished be¬ 
tween the King and England, and wishing to avoid the bloody 
catastrophe that was approaching, he, as William of Orange 
did somewhat later with regard to James II., made every 
effort to favor Charles’s flight and his retreat to France. 
Cromwell, says the republican Ludlow, informed the King 
of his danger, and assured him of his services. A report 
was current that the strict watch of the garrison at Hampton 
Court had been relaxed on the 11th of November, and that 
bintinels had been withdrawn from the posts they usually 
ruarded. At the same time it was asserted, that a vessel 
s tilt bv the queen was cruising off the coast, towards which 
majesty was to proceed, for the purpose of taking him 
off. But when he reached the shore, no ship, not even a 
fishing-boat, was in sight. Being now without resource, ha 
surrendered to Colonel Hammond, governor of the Isle of 



AND THE ARMY - . 


73 


W ight. He placed in that officer’s liands a communication 
he had received from Oliver shortly before leaving Hampton 
Court, in which the latter informed him of the risk he would 
incur by staying any longer in that palace. u It was evident,” 
says Ludlow, “ that the King had escaped by Cromwell’s 
advice.” 

If Oliver desired to see Charles leave England, he also 
wished to repress the disorders of the Levellers. With one 
hand he removed tyranny; with the other he suppressed the 
demagogues. The latter entered into associations, and made 
propositions to their officers and to the Parliament “ to intro¬ 
duce an equality into all conditions, and a parity among all 
men.” “ The suppression of this license,” says Clarendon, 
“ put Cromwell to the expense of all his cunning, dexterity, 
and courage.” He still believed that Parliament was capable 
of governing, and desired to maintain the authority of that 
body. Having been informed that the Levellers were hold¬ 
ing a meeting with a view to seduce the army, he immedi¬ 
ately proceeded to the place of assemblage, attended by a 
few men only of whom he was sure. Without being discon¬ 
certed, he put several questions to those who appeared the 
most seditious. And upon receiving an insolent reply, chas¬ 
tised some of them with his own hand, and w r ith the assist¬ 
ance of His friends dispersed the others. 

Non civium ardor prava jubentium, 

Non vultus instantis tyranni 
Mente quatit solidd. 

On several occasions Oliver subdued those demagogues. 
“ If this factious spirit,” says Clarendon, “ had not been en¬ 
countered at that time with that rough and brisk temper of 
Cromwell, it would presently have produced all imaginable 
confusion in the parliament, army, and kingdom.”* 

Ere long fresh hopes agitated Charles in his retreat in the 
Isle of Wight. The House of Commons voted that four 

* Clarendon, iii. 87, 88. 

7 




74 SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENT 

propositions should be presented to him ; and if he accepted 
them, he should be allowed to treat in person with the Par¬ 
liament. Commissioners were accordingly sent to the King, 
whom they found in appearance favorably disposed, but in 
reality more determined than ever to resist them. His plan 
was to put himself at the head of the Irish, and march 
against England ; and he secretly prepared to leave the island, 
although he swore to the contrary. 

A fresh chance was now offered the King, and the division 
among his adversaries gave him hopes of recovering all his 
power. Lord Lauderdale and two other Scotch Commis¬ 
sioners, shrouding themselves in the deepest secrecy, arrived 
at Carisbrook Castle nearly at the same time with the depu¬ 
tation from Parliament. They promised the King the inter¬ 
vention of a Scottish army to re-establish him in his rights ; 
but with stipulations to the advantage of Scotland which 
would have been offensive to the honor of England ; and on 
condition that the King would confirm the Presbyterian es¬ 
tablishment m England for three years. Charles accepted 
everything: in two days the treaty was concluded and 
signed, and then hidden mysteriously in a garden in the 
island, until it could be made known with safety. 

When this was settled, he gave his answer to Lord Denbigh 
and the other Parliamentary Commissioners. He requested 
to treat in person without being pledged to accept anything 
beforehand; and the Commissioners returned to make their 
report to Parliament. 

His majesty’s position was now worse than ever, and he 
was the artificer of his own ruin. 

It had been Oliver’s wish to save the King, and re-establish 
him on a constitutional and honorable throne. He, like many 
olhcrs, had been subjugated by his sovereign’s amiability. 
He is said to have declared that the interview between Charles 
and his children, when they were first allowed to visit him, 
was “ the tenderest sight that his eyes ever beheldand to 
aave wept plentifully when he spoke of it, “ which he mio-ht 


AND Tlin ARMY. 


h - 
l O 


well have done without hypocrisy, for in private life he was 
a man of kind feelings and of a generous nature.”* 

Cromwell desired to save his King, and that, too, at the 
very moment the latter designed to hang him. Alas ! it was 
the unfortunate Stuart who was caught in the snare he was 
laying for others. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; 
and whoso breaketh a hedge, a ; serpent shall bite him. Such is 
the language of God’s "Word; and there Jaileth not aught of 
any good thing which the Lord hath spoken. (Joshua xxi. 45.) 

* Southey, Life of Cromwell, 53. London, 1840. 


CHAPTER V. 


DEATH OF THE KING. 

T rliament resolves to hold no further Communication witn *ie King— 
Prayer-meeting at Windsor—Second Civil War—Royalist Insurrection 
—Scotch Invasion—Cromwell’s Victories—Parliament again treats with 
the King—Charles’s Treachery—Great Alternative—Army remonstrates 
with Parliament—Cromwell justified by Facts—The Woodman and the 
Sower—Cromwell to Hammond—Truth and Error—The King at Hurst 
Castle—Parliament rejects the Remonstrance—Composition of the Army 
—The Army at London—Pride’s Purge—Cromwell’s Hesitation about 
the King—Cromwell’s religious Error—Prayers—The Will of God— 
Death Warrant—The Execution censured—Revelation of the King’s 
Treason—Principles of the Roman Church—Of Milton—Charles’s 
Children—Cromwell to his Daughter-in-law—Cromwell and Charles’s 
Corpse—The European Powers. 

The Parliamentary Commissioners, on their return from the 
Isle of Wight to London, presented the report of their jour¬ 
ney and its results. On the 3d of January, 1648, Sir Thomas 
Wroth rose in the House of Commons and said: “ Mr. 
Speaker, Bedlam was appointed for madmen, and Tophet (i. 
e. the grave or hell) for kings ;* but our King of late hath car¬ 
ried himself as if he were fit for no place but Bedlam ; I pro¬ 
pose we lay the King by, and settle the kingdom without 
him.” Ireton supported the motion. “ The King,” said he, 
“ by denying the four bills has denied safety and protection 
to his people.” The Parliamentary or Presbyterian party 
strongly resisted the proposition. Cromwell had not yet 
spoken. In his view, Charles’s bad faith had reached the 

* Isaiah, xxx. 33. 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


77 


point at wliioli civil tribunals deprive a man of the manage¬ 
ment of his family; and he therefore thought that the man¬ 
agement of the kingdom should be taken from a prince who 
was no longer the father, but the deceiver of his people. 
“ Mr. Speaker,” he said, “ the King is a man of great sense, 
of great talents, but so full of dissimulation, so false, that 
there is no possibility of trusting him. While he is protest¬ 
ing his love for peace, he is treating underhand with the 
Scottish Commissioners to plunge the nation into another 
war. It is now expected the Parliament should govern and 
defend the kingdom.” The motion was immediately adopted 
by the Commons, and by the Lords after some little hesitation. 

This important vote caused a great sensation, and ren¬ 
dered the posture of affairs daily more embarrassing. A 
Scotch army talked of delivering the King from the hands of 
the sectarians; and in England three parties, in addition to 
the soldiers, were agitating the nation. The royalist party 
threatened to rise every moment with shouts of “ God and 
King Charles ;” the great Presbyterian party, with the city 
of London at their head, became hourly more discontented 
with the state of things ; and a third party, the Levellers or 
radicals, still further increased the terror and confusion. 

One day, about the beginning of 1648, the army leaders 
met at Windsor. “ The longest heads and the strongest 
hearts in England Avere there,” says an historian. And what 
did they there ? The answer will be found in the following 
report ’which Adjutant-General Allen has transmitted to us. 
—“ We met at Windsor Castle about the beginning of Forty- 
eight, and there we spent one day together in prayer; in¬ 
quiring into the causes of that sad dispensation; coming to 
no further resolve that day; but that it w'as still our duty to 
seek. And on the morrow we met again in the morning, 
where many spake from the Word and prayed ; and the then 
Lieutenant-General Cromwell did press very earnestly on all 
there present to a thorough consideration of our actions as an 
army, and of our ways, particularly as private Christians: to 


Is 


DEATH OF THE KINO. 


see if any iniquity could be found in them, and what it was; 
that if possible we might find it out, and so remove the cause 
of such sad rebukes as were upon us at that time. And to 
this end,” he added, “ let us consider when we could last say 
that the presence of the Lord was among us, and rebukes 
and judgments were not as then upon us. We concluded this 
second day with agreeing to meet again on the morrow. 

“ Which accordingly we did, and were led by a gracious 
hand of the Lord, to find out the very steps by which we had 
departed from Him, and provoked Him to depart from us. 
Which we found to be those cursed carnal conferences our 
own conceited wisdom, our fears, and want of faith had 
prompted us, the year before, to entertain with the King and 
his party. And on this occasion did the then Major Goffe 
make use of that good Word, Proverbs i. 23— Turn you at 
my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I 
will make known my words unto you. And the Lord so ac- 
3ompanied this invitation by His Spirit, that it had a kindly 
effect, like a word of His, upon most of our hearts that were 
then present; which begot in us a great sense, a shame and 
loathing of ourselves for our iniquities, and a justifying of the 
Lord as righteous in His proceedings against us. He led us 
not only to see our sin, but also our duty; and this so unan¬ 
imously set with weight upon each heart, that none was able 
hardly to speak a word to each other for bitter weeping, 
partly in the sense and shame of our iniquities; of our unbe¬ 
lief, base fear of men, and carnal consultations witli our own 
wisdom, and not with the Word of the Lord. . . . And yet 
we were also helped, with fear and trembling, to rejoice in 
die Lord, who no sooner brought us to His feet but He did 
direct our steps, and we were led to a clear agreement amor gA 
ourselves, that it was the duty of our day, with the forces we 
had, to go out and fight against our potent enemies, with an 
humble confidence in the name of the Lord onty. 

“ And we were also enabled then, after serious seeking the 
Lord’s face, to come to a very clear and joint resolution, that 


DEATH OF TnK E IN G. 


79 


t was our duty to call Charles Stuart, that man of blood, to 
an account for that blood he had shed, and mischief he had 
done to his utmost against the Lord’s cause and people in 
these poor nations.”* 

It is a striking spectacle to witness the bold and formida¬ 
ble leaders of the Parliamentary army assembled for three 
days in prayer in the palace of Windsor to seek for the guid¬ 
ance of the Lord. Who can entertain any doubt of their up¬ 
rightness, of their true piety, and of their lively faith ? Who, 
on contemplating their example, can help feeling humiliated 
as he looks sorrowfully into his own heart? Who will not 
acknowledge that the continual falsehoods of Charles I., and 
the conviction at which the champions of liberty had arrived, 
that this prince was betraying them, and would only be satis¬ 
fied with the destruction of Protestantism, were well calcu¬ 
lated to alarm the chiefs of the army, and lead them on tc 
decisive measures ? 

And yet, were they really in the right path ? We entertain 
some doubt on this point. There is perhaps no case in which 
we see more clearly the importance of being enlightened on 
the true principles of Christian conduct. When the leaders 
of the army wished to know what they ought to do, they ex¬ 
amined into what they had done when they felt happiest and 
nearest to God: such are not the means presei ibed by 
Heaven. They should have asked themselves, “What does 
God command us in His word ?” It is not by our feelings 
that He will guide us, but by his commandments. Our feel¬ 
ings may lead us astray. There is a way which seemeth right 
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The 
Word of God never misleads us. A Christian’s walk is in 
the Divine commandments : to act according to one’s own sen¬ 
sations, one’s interior illumination, is the walk of the mystic. 

If the officers assembled at Windsor did not then fall into 
fanaticism, they were at least in a j.ath which might lead to 
it; and some of them fell into it afterwards. 

* Somers’s Tracts, vi. 499-501; cited by Carlyle, i. 337-340. 


80 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


Meanwhile Cromwell still endeavored to check the move¬ 
ment which was hurrying on towards a violent catastrophe. 
He strove to restrain the pretensions of the republicans ana 
enthusiasts. He was grieved to see the power passing from 
the hands of moderate men, and extended to earnest and ac¬ 
tive persons of inferior condition, but who were void of expe¬ 
rience and wisdom. He assembled one day at dinner the 
principal Independents and Presbyterians, and earnestly en 
treated them to suspend their quarrels and combine together. 
But it was without result; the minds of all were inclined to 
war; and Oliver was at length compelled to yield. 

The King and the royalists on their side were not less 
heated than the republicans. Charles was intriguing with 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. At one time, at the table 
of some rich gentleman, at another time, at the assizes or in 
the markets, the cavaliers plotted, worked upon the people, 
and their exertions seemed everywhere crowned with suc¬ 
cess. A discontent, hourly becoming more general, an¬ 
nounced itself in the spring of 1648, among the Presbyteri¬ 
ans and the loyalists in Wales and in Kent. “ The gentry are 
all for the king,” writes a contemporary; “ the common peo¬ 
ple understand nothing, and follow the gentry.” 

In South Wales, several officers, who had gained distinc¬ 
tion in the Parliamentary army, joined the cavaliers beneath 
the royal Hag. In Scotland, the Parliament voted a levy of 
40,000 men in the King’s defence. At this signal the royal¬ 
ists in the north of England broke out, and the chiefs of the 
parliamentary army in Ireland went over to the King’s stan¬ 
dard. Shortly after this event, the Kentish royalists drew 
together in great numbers. Even in London troops were 
raised for the King, and armed bands marched through the 
streets to join the insurgents. 

At this news, Cromwell, at the head of five regiments, took 
his departure for Wales, where lay the principal strengih of 
the royalists; and letters were soon after received from him, 


DEATH OF THE KINO. 


81 


promising that in a fortnight Pembroke Castle would be in 
his power. 

It was not only his own person, his own and his children’s 
lives, that Cromwell offered to his country : he was also lavish 
of his property; he could despise small interests and sacrifice 
them to great ones. This is shown by the following letter 
addressed to the Parliament:— 

“ To the Honorable the Committee of Lords and Commons for 
the 'affairs of Ireland , sitting at Derby House: The offer 
of Lieutenant-general Cromwell for the service of Ireland. 


“21st Martii, 1048. 

“ The Two Houses of Parliament having lately bestowed 
£1680 per annum upon me and my heirs, out of the Earl of 
Worcester’s Estate; the necessity of affairs requiring assist¬ 
ance, I do hereby offer one thousand pounds annually to be 
paid out of the rents of said lands; that is to say £500 out of 
the next Michaelmas rent, and so on, by the half year, for the 
space of five years, if the War in Ireland shall so long con¬ 
tinue, or that I live so long: to be employed for the service 
of Ireland, as the Parliament shall please to appoint; pro¬ 
vided the said yearly rent of £1680 become not to be sus¬ 
pended by war or other accident. 

“ And whereas there is an arrear of pay due unto me whilst 
I was Lieutenant-general unto the Earl of Manchester, of 
about £1500, audited and stated ; as also a great arrear due 
for about two years being governor of the Isle of Ely: I do 
hereby discharge the State from all or any claim to be made 
by me thereunto. Oliver Cromwell.” 

Still, he found it necessary to accelerate matters. On the 
8th of July the royalist army from Scotland crossed the bor¬ 
der ; but the hearts of the Scottish nation were not with theii 
army. The faithful Presbyterians complained loudly that, 
• Commons Journals-, v. 513. Carlyle, i. 326. 


82 


DEATH OF THE KIXG 


while every tiling was done to restore the King to his rights, 
nothing was done to put Christ in possession of His. Pem¬ 
broke Castle surrendered three days after the Scotch inva¬ 
sion. On the very next day the victor hastened northwards, 
writing to his friends at Derby House: “ Send me some shoes 
for my poor tired soldiers ; they have a long march to take.” 
With those ill-shod, ill-clad soldiers lie traversed England 
from west to east, and then from north to south, Avith the 
rapidity of lightning; and suddenly the cavalry sent word to 
the Duke of Hamilton, who commanded the Scotch army, 
that Cromwell was approaching. “ Impossible,” replied the 
Duke; “ he has not had time to come.” But the outposts 
were already engaged with the advanced guard of the Par¬ 
liamentarian general. Cromwell defeated the royalists, 
dashed upon the Scots, whom he found near the Kibble, 
routed them thoroughly, crossed the river with them, fol¬ 
lowed them close as they fled, still continuing their invasion, 
to the southward, came up with them in a defile near War¬ 
rington, and compelled them to surrender. A fortnight’s 
campaign had sufficed to sweep away the whole northern 
army. The conqueror marched into Scotland, where he was 
joined by the Presbyterians, who gave him a magnificent re¬ 
ception at Edinburgh. 

During this time, the English Parliament, alarmed at the 
success of their own army, were taking steps to come to a 
reconciliation with Charles. This body was continually os¬ 
cillating between the two parties : it was “ like the wave of 
the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man 
think that he shall receive anything of the Lord” This dec¬ 
laration of Scripture was destined soon to be realized in re¬ 
spect to the things of this world. 

Parliament, which had invited the eleven proscribed mem¬ 
bers to resume their seats, was resolved on making new and 
favorable proposals to the King. On the 30th of June the 
vote forbidding any further address to his majesty was re¬ 
scinded. “ You know not in what condition you are,” said 


DEATH OF TTIE KING. 


83 


Sir Symond d’Ewes; “your silver is clipped, your gold ship¬ 
ped, your ships are revolted, yourselves contemned; your 
Scot» friends enraged against you, and the affection of the 
city and kingdom quite alienated from you. Judge then, 
whether you are not in a low condition, and also if it be not 
high time to endeavor a speedy settlement and reconcilement 
with his majesty.” 

Parliament growing daily more and more alarmed at the 
success of the army, voted that they would not persist in re¬ 
quiring from Charles the adoption of the four preliminary 
bills, and that fresh negotiations should immediately be 
opened with the King in the Isle of Wight (July 29 ). 

Fifteen commissioners (five members of the Upper House 
and ten of the Commons) left London to present themselves 
before the King. Twenty of his most faithful servants, lords, 
divines, and lawyers, had been permitted to advise with him; 
and lie was attended by his chamberlains, pages, equerries, 
secretaries, and grooms of the chamber. The commission¬ 
ers exhorted him to accept their proposals before the army 
should have time to return to London. The Kingr seemed 

O 

inclined to do so; but, true to his double-dealing, he nour¬ 
ished in his heart a far different hope. Ormond had quitted 
France, and was about to reappear in Ireland, provided with 
money and ammunition to enter upon a vigorous war. 
Charles’s heart was there: he thought of escaping and put¬ 
ting himself at the head of that army. He solemnly prom¬ 
ised to cive orders for the cessation of all hostilities in Ire- 
land ; but at the same time secretly wrote to Ormond on the 
] Oth of October: “Trouble not yourself about my conces¬ 
sions as to Ireland : Obey my wife’s orders, not mine.” And 
on the Oth of the same month, he wrote to Sir William Hop¬ 
kins : “ My great concession this morning was made only 
with a view to facilitate my approaching escape.” Such was 
the prince whose dupe the Parliament became. There never 
perhaps was any body of men who showed themselves so 
simple, or who gave such evidence of folly and inexperience* 


84 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


Oliver’s principal “crime” was his having more sagacity and 
discernment. This crime was almost a virtue. 

What would now be done by those men who, after prodi¬ 
gies of valor, long labors, great sacrifices and astonishing vic¬ 
tories, in which the intervention of Providence had been 
manifested to them, had arrested the progress of despotism, 
secured liberty of conscience, and rescued Protestantism and 
England ? 

They saw that, unless they interfered, Charles, popery, 
and tyranny, would resume the superiority; that good men 
would be oppressed, they themselves beheaded, their breth¬ 
ren compelled to flee by thousands, if they could, into the 
wilds of America, and the Protestant would-be church 
crushed. 

One alternative offered itself to them. 

Must they abandon what they have done, aud let things 
take their course ? 

Or must they interfere irregularly in those irregular times, 
and once more rescue England and the Church ? 

Some of Cromwell’s friends, and in particular Colonel Ham¬ 
mond, to whom he wrote a letter about that time, a portion 
of which we shall quote, was for the first alternative; Oliver 
inclined to the second. The army, no doubt at his suggestion 
(he had not yet returned from his northern expedition), pre¬ 
sented a Remonstrance to Parliament, and moved from Saint 
Albans to Windsor on the 25th of November, 1G48. 

Of the two alternatives, which was the better ? The sec¬ 
ond was desperate,—monstrous,—and yet we must acknowl¬ 
edge that facts have several times spoken in its favor. 

The liberties and Protestantism of England were on the 
>crge of shipwreck, when Cromwell intervened ; and all his 
life he upheld in Great Britain religious liberty and the na¬ 
tional prosperity. 

And what became of the country after his death ?—The 
Stuarts returned; and “ when the rejoicings were oven, the 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


8 


illuminations extinct, then.punishments foil owed.”' 1 

One hundred corpses were exhumed, among which were the 
great Oliver, his old and venerable mother, his dearly be¬ 
loved daughter Bridget Pym, and the famous admiral Blake. 
Their mouldering bodies were hung on the three corners of 
the gallows at Tyburn, and the cavaliers found a subject of 
merriment and pleasantry in this revolting exhibition. Ears 
were cut off, noses were slit, and numbers lost their heads on 
the scaffold. The sentence pronounced against them all was 
conceived in the following terms :—“ You shall be drawn on 
a hurdle to the place of execution, and there you shall be 
hanged by the neck; and being alive, you shall be cut down 
and mutilated ; your entrails shall be taken out of your body, 
and (you living) the same to be burnt before your eyes; and 
your head to be cut off, and your body to be divided into 
four quarters.”! The Stuarts, as if this were not enough, 
filled the country with immorality ; and an illustrious Roy- 
alist of the present day can find no other excuse for Charles 
II. than by saying that, in propagating this corruption of 
morals, “ it is probable that this prince merely followed the 
course of his own inclinations and the fickleness of his charac¬ 
ter.”^ Tw'o thousand ministers were driven from their ben¬ 
efices ; the churches were oppressed ; the noblest hearts of 
the country were forced to seek a refuge in distant lands; 
vast colonies in America were peopled by them; and Eng¬ 
land would have become like Spain, and worse than Spain, 
had not William III. resumed the task so energetically be¬ 
gun by Cromwell. If, so long after the war, and after a pa¬ 
cific recall to their native land, the Stuarts committed such 
atrocities, what would they not have dared when men’s pas¬ 
sions and animosities were in full vigor ? ...... 

In one of his writings Luther compares himself to a wood¬ 
man, (or as we should now say, a pioneer,) who goes into a 

* Chateaubriand. 

t Exact and impartial Account of the Trial, &c., of twenty-nine Regi¬ 
mes, p. 57. London, 1GC0. t Chateaubriand. 


8 



80 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


forest, into the midst of thorns, thickets, and lofty trees, 
and there, manfully wielding his axe, hews down the wood 
and clears the ground ; and he compares Melanctlion to the 
husbandman who follows him, ploughing the soil thus pre¬ 
pared for him, and with liberal hand scattering the precious 
seed, ere lom>* to cover with a rich harvest the once uncult!- 
vated ground. This comparison is also applicable to Crom¬ 
well and William of Orange. Cromwell was the pioneer, 
and William the husbandman. 

The former of these champions wrote the letter, of which 
we proceed to give a portion, to Colonel Robert Hammond, 
governor of the Isle of Wight, to justify to his friend the 
cause of the army in the struggle with Parliament, and to 
gain him over to his own views. 


“ To Colonel Robert Hammond : These. 

£5t!i November, 1013. 

“ Dear Robin, 

• •*•••••••• 

“ Thou desirest to hear of my experiences. 1 can tell thee: 

[ am such a one as thou didst formerly know, having a body 
of sin and death ; but I thank God, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord, there is no condemnation, though much infirmity ; and 
I wait for the redemption. And in this poor condition I ob¬ 
tain mercy and sweet consolation through the Spirit. And 
find abundant cause every day to exalt the Lord and abase 
the llesh,—and herein I have some exercise. 

“ As to outward dispensations, if we may so call them, we 
have not been without our share of beholding some remark¬ 
able providences and appearances of the Lord. His presence 
hath been amongst us, and by the light of His countenance 
we have prevailed. We are sure the goodwill of Him who 
dwelt in the bush (Exodus iii.) has shined upon us; and we 
can humbly say, we know in whom we have believed; who 


DEATH OF THE KING. 87 

can and will perfect what remaineth, and us also in doing 
what is well pleasing in IJis eyesight. 

“ I find some trouble in your spirit, occasioned.by 

the dissatisfaction you take at the ways of some good men 
whom you love with your heart, who through this principle, 
that it is lawful for a lesser part, if in the right, to force a 

numerical majority, Arc. 

“ You say : ‘ God hath appointed authorities among the 
nations, to which obedience is to be yielded. This resides in 
England in the Parliament. Therefore resistance,’ Arc. 

“ [This is true, but] I do not therefore think the author¬ 
ities may do anything [i. c. whatsoever they like], and yet such 
obedience be due. All agree that there are cases in which it 
is lawful to resist. If so, your ground fails, and so likewise 
the inference. 

“ I desire thee to see what thou findest in thy own heart 
to two or three plain considerations. Whether the whole 
fruit of the war is not likely to be frustrated [by this treaty 
with the King], and all most like to turn to what it was, and 
•worse ? And this, contrary to engagements, explicit cove¬ 
nants with those who ventured their lives upon those cove¬ 
nants and engagements ? Whether this army be not a law¬ 
ful pow r er, called by God to oppose and fight against the 
King ; and being in pow r er to such ends, may not oppose one 
name of authority, as well as another name ?”* 

Ko doubt there are errors in this letter. “ It is lawful for 
the lesser party, when in the right , to force the majority,” says 
Cromwell. But where is the “ lesser party,” the minority, 
that does not think it is in the right ? “ An army is a power,” 
most certainly ; but it is a power to fight, and not to delib¬ 
erate. Had Oliver gone into the midst of the Parliament, 
and by his eloquence brought it over to his own views, he 
would have acted legally; but this he did not do. It has, 
however, been frequently remarked that irregular times may 
justify an irregular inlervention. And he himself pronounced 
* Birch, p. 101; Carlyle, i. 432-435. 



88 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


somewhat later, in his ow r n justification, the following words* 
which reveal the motives of his conduct: “ The throat of the 
nation mavbe cut, while we send for some to make a law.”* 

*r ' 

Let us not forget that the balance of power was then form¬ 
ing ; that the constitutional world was coming forth, as it 
were, out of chaos ; and that to these remarkable times we 
are indebted for our greatest luminaries. 

Hammond had had several painful discussions with the 
King. Charles, after concluding contradictory arrangements 
with the English, Irish, and Scotch, had made preparations 
with Berkeley and Ashburnham for his escape. But while 
he was in conversation with them on the best means of get¬ 
ting away safely, the gates of the castle were closed, and all 
possibility of evasion was cut off. The King sent for Ham¬ 
mond, and complained bitterly of what had been done. “ Sir, 
you are too high,” said the colonel. “ It is my shoemaker’s 
fault, then,” replied his majesty; “ and yet my shoes are of 
the same last.” This paltry jest he repeated several times, 
as he walked the room. But the castle gates still remained 
shut. 

Hammond was no longer at the Isle of Wight when Crom¬ 
well’s letter arrived there, his charge having been previouslj 
transferred to Colonel Ewer. The new governor, who en 
tered the King’s lodgings during a night of storm and pour¬ 
ing rain, had conducted him in the morning to Hurst Castle 
on the opposite beach. 

In London a crisis was approaching. The Army, as we 
have said, had presented a Remonstrance to Parliament, re¬ 
quiring among other things that the sovereignty of the peo¬ 
ple should be proclaimed, and that the King should be elected 
by their representatives. This prayer was rejected; and 
some of the members of the Commons proposed that the re¬ 
monstrants should be accused of high treason. From that 
moment the question, as regarded the Independents, became 
one of self-preservation. They had to select between two 
* Birch, iii. 292. Speech v.. Sept. 17. 165G. 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


69 


roads:—that which led to the wilds of America, and that to 
London. They chose the latter. 

We should here remark, that Cromwell often asserted that 
the composition of his army was very different from that of 
ordinary armies. And we should also call to mind that the 
Parliamentary soldiers, having always been defeated by 
Charles’s cavaliers, the Protector had gone and dragged 
from their daily labors and from their families, those pious 
freeholders and farmers by whose means all his victories had 
been gained. “These poor men,” said he on the 21st of 
April, 1657, “thought they had ventured their lives, and 
had some interest to inquire after these things. They were 
not mercenary men, but men who had wives and children in 
the nation; and who therefore might a little look after satis¬ 
faction in what would be the issue of the business.”* 

The army, after spending one day in prayer, marched from 
Windsor under the command of General Fairfax, and arrived 
in London on the 2d December. On Monday (4th Decem¬ 
ber) Parliament resumed the question; and on Tuesday, at 
five in the morning, decided in favor of the King against the 
army. One hundred and twenty-nine against eighty-three 
resolved that his majesty’s reply was an adequate basis of 
peace. On Wednesday, two regiments were posted around 
Westminster Hall, and Colonel Pride, with a list of names in 
his hand, prevented the entrance of forty-one of the most de¬ 
termined members; others were sent to the Tower or scared 
away into the country. 

Charles was now brought back to Windsor. He was de- 

O » 

lighted to re-enter one of his own palaces, and be served 
with all the etiquette of court. He dined in public, in tin- 
hall of state, under a canopy ; the chamberlain, esquire-car¬ 
ver, master of the ceremonies, and cup-bearer, waited upoi 
him in the accustomed manner; the cup was presented to bin 
kneeling, and all the ceremonial of kingly state was preserved 

* Speech xiii., ir Somers’s Tracts, vi. 3S9, &c. Carlvle, iii. 333. 

8* 


00 


DEATH 01 THE KING. 


But the sky so clear and bright at Windsor was covered with 
dark and angry clouds at London. 

On the very day when the last of the Presbyterians re¬ 
tired from the Commons, Cromwell returned from Scotland, 
and resumed his seat in Parliament. The House received the 
pacificator of Britain with the liveliest demonstrations of grat¬ 
itude. “ G od is my witness,” said he, “ that I know nothing 
of what has been doing in this House; but the work is in 
hand; I am glad of it, and now we must carry it through.” 
It was now proposed in the Commons to bring the King to 
trial on a charge of high treason, as the cause of all the blood 
which had been shed during the last war. Oliver hesitated: 
** Sir,” said he, addressing the Speaker, “ if any man whatso¬ 
ever have carried on this design [of deposing the King, and 
disinheriting his posterity], or if any man have still such a 
design, he must be the greatest traitor and rebel in the world. 
But since the Providence of God hath cast this upon us, I 
cannot but submit to Providence, though I am not yet pre¬ 
pared to give you my advice.” 

The initiative in the case of Charles’s trial did not proceed 
from Cromwell. His scruples and his anxiety grew stronger 
every day. Should he yield to the powerful tide that was 
hurrying him along, and which no one seemed capable of re¬ 
sisting ? or should he withdraw from public affairs, and, sac¬ 
rificing the great interests of civil and religious liberty, in 
behalf of which the struggle had first begun, commit the di¬ 
rection of state affairs to unskilful hands, whose weakness 
would inevitably lead to the return of despotism and of 
Popery ? Seldom or never has there been a more terrible 
'conflict ir. human breast. 

The Episcopalians, the English Presbyterians, the Church 
of Scotland, protested all against the King’s trial. Several 
foreign princes did the same through their ambassadors. The 
Parliament, without paying any attention to their interces¬ 
sion, erected a High Court of Justice for trying the sovereign, 


DEATH OF TIIE KINO. 


01 


to consist of one hundred and thirty-five commissioners, with 
John Bradshaw as Lord-President. On the 20tli of January 
(1649) Charles was brought to the bar. Crcrnwell leant to¬ 
wards the window, and as his eves met the Kind’s, he turned 
away as pale as death. 

We are approaching a catastrophe which we would wil¬ 
lingly avoid ; but which we must in justice acknowledge, dif¬ 
fers essentially from that which startled the world in 1793. 
If the safety of the nation was incompatible with Charles’s 
remaining on the throne, wans it necessary that he should pass 
from the throne to the scaffold ? Most certainly not. To 
connive at his escape into a foreign country w r ould have been 
the most befitting course,—an expedient that w r as afterwards 
adopted in the case of James II., and, in our ow r n days, in 
that of Charles X. It was also that which in all probability, 
as w r e have seen, Cronnvell once desired to have followed. 
But the fear of compromising the future tranquillity of the 
nation now condemned the King to a severer penalty. We 
must deplore such times as those, when men were so prodi¬ 
gal of human blood : w^e must lament that even the majesty 
of the throne could not protect a guilty prince; but all the 
documents of the 10th and 17 th centuries attest that men 
w r ere in those acres condemned to death as we now condemn 
them to a brief imprisonment. 

We cannot forbear quoting in this place the remarkable 
words of Clarendon, in which the royal historian terminates 
his judgment of the Protector’s character. “ To conclude his 
character,” says he, “ Cronnvcll w^as not so far a man of 
blood as to follow MachiaveTs * method; which prescribes, 
upon a total alteration of government, as a thing absolutely 
necessary, to cut oft’ all the heads of those, and extirpate then 
families, who are friends to the old one. It'-was confidently 
reported, that, in the council of officers, it was more than 
once proposed that there might be a general massacre of all 
the royfd party, as the only expedient to secure the govern- 


92 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


ment; but that Cromwell would never consent to it.”* Tims, 
according to the testimony of this great political adversary, 
the General had no appetite of blood. 

The manner in which lie was at length led to sign Charles s 
death-warrant has not, perhaps, been sufficiently appreciated. 
We have already remarked that his great religious error was 
his assuming for the mainspring of his actions those inward 
impulses which he ascribed to God in preference to the ex¬ 
plicit commands of the Holy Scriptures. He believed in 
what lias been denominated “ a particular faith.” If, while 
engaged in prayer or immediately after, he felt a lively con¬ 
viction in his mind, he thought that this impression proceeded 
immediately from heaven, and that he ought to follow it as 
the very voice of God. If, on the contrary, his devotions re¬ 
mained languid, he concluded that he ought to abstain from 
the meditated act. This is a common error in pious minds, 
and we might point to one denomination of Christians, cele¬ 
brated for their spirit of meekness and peace, who partially 
participate in such sentiments. 

It was this which guided him in the sentence passed on 
Charles, and freed him from all his doubts and scruples. 
John Cromwell, at that time in the Dutch service, had come 
to England with a message from the Princess of Wales and 
of Orange to endeavor to save the King’s life. When intro¬ 
duced to his cousin Oliver, he reminded him of the royalist 
opinions he had formerly entertained at Hampton Court. The 
latter, still uncertain as to the line of conduct which he ought 
to pursue, replied, that he had often fasted and prayed to 
know the will of God with respect to the King, but that God 
had not yet pointed out the way. When John had with¬ 
drawn, Cromwell and his friends again sought by prayer the 
path they ought to follow; and it was then the Parliamentary 
hero first felt the conviction that Charles’s death alone could 
save England. From that moment all Avas fixed: God had 


♦ History of Rebellion, book xv., conclusion 


DEATJJ OF THE KING. 


93 


spoken ; Oliver’s indecision was at an end ; it remained now 
merely to act and accomplish that will, however appalling it 
might be. At one o’clock in the morning a messenger from 
the General knocked at the door of the tavern where John 
Cromwell lodged, and informed him that his cousin had at 
length dismissed his doubts, and that all the arguments so 
long put forward by the most decided Republicans were now 
confirmed by the will of the Lord. 

Enthusiasm, then, was the cause of Cromwell’s error. This 
is a serious fault in religion; but may it not extenuate the 
fault in morals ? Is a man who desires to obey God equally 
guilty with him who is determined to listen to his passions 
only ? Is not God’s will the sovereign rule of good and evil ? 

Chateaubriand, a witness beyond suspicion on this point, 
speaking of the times at which we have been glancing, if not 
of the particular act under examination, proceeds thus : “At 
this epoch faith was everywhere, except in a small number 
of libertines and philosophers ; it impressed on the faults, and 
sometimes even on the crimes, something grave, and even 
moral, if the expression may be allowed, by giving to the 
victim of policy the conscience of the martyr, and to error 
the conviction of truth.”* This error in religion is, in our 
opinion, the only important blemish to be found in Cromwell. 
At the same time it is the key which opens and explains 
his whole life. His piety was sincere but it was not always 
sober. 

Yet if this error be a great extenuation of the Protector’s 
fault, the crime to which it led him must ever remain, in his¬ 
tory, as a warning to terrify those who may base their con¬ 
duct on their inward impressions, rather than on the sure, 
positive, and ever-accessible inspirations of that Word of 
God which never deceives. 

♦ Les Quatre Stuards. tEuvres completes, vi. 147. 


94 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


We now proceed to give a document which we think of toe 
great importance to be omitted :—it is the King’s 

DEATH-WARRANT. 

“ To Colonel Francis Hacker, Colonel Huncks, and Lieutenant > 
Colonel Phayr, and to every of them. 

“ At the High Court of Justice for the Trying and Judging 
Charles Stuart, King of England, 29th January, 1G45 
[ 1649. n. s.J. 

“ Whereas Charles Stuart, King of England, is and stand- 
eth convicted, attainted and condemned of High Treason and 
other high Crimes ; and Sentence upon Saturday last was 
pronounced against him by this Court, To be put to death 
by the severing of his head from his body ; of which Sen¬ 
tence execution yet remaineth to be done : 

“ These are therefore to will and require you to see the 
said Sentence executed, in the open Street before Whitehall, 
upon the morrow, being the Thirtieth day of this instant 
month of January, between the hours of Ten in the morning 
and Five in the afternoon, with full effect. And for so dome* 
this shall be your warrant. 

“ And these are to require all Officers and Soldiers, and 
others the good People of this Kation of England, to be as¬ 
sisting unto you in this service. 

“ Given under our hands and seals, 

i( John Bradshaw. 

“Thomas Grey [Lord Grobv]. 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 

(And fifty-six others.) 

We will not attempt to describe the death of the unhappy 
Charles. Whose heart would not be wrung by the contem¬ 
plation of those mournful scenes ? Our feelings revolt 
against the fanaticism which led a prince to the scaffold; we 
burn with indignation against those feet swift to shed Hood; 
we desire to arrest the deadly axe, and spurn away the fatal 


DEATH OF THE KINO. 


95 


block.And yet we cannot be blind to the con¬ 

viction that the divorce between England and the Stuarts 
was inevitable,—that it was the decree of God himself. Suc¬ 
ceeding ages have branded the scaffold ; but they have also 
ratified the solemn sentence. 

Charles I. was superior to his son ; he was virtuous and 
sober, and would have desired to adopt (what is impossible) 
a certain middle course between Protestantism and Popery, 
rather than Popery itself. But there was no sincerity in 
him; and he was from long habit too docile to the fatal sug¬ 
gestions of the Bourbons. It is evident that if he had been 
victorious in the contest, the liberty and religion of England 
would have been destroyed. His continual falsehoods had 
disgusted the greater number of his partisans. “ Incurable- 
in his duplicity, because he held himself bound to no engage¬ 
ment with rebellious subjects, Charles meditated their ruin, 
while he was imploring their aid.”* 

His treasons have subsequently been brought to light. Af¬ 
ter the Restoration, the Earl of Glamorgan, the king’s secrect 
agent in Ireland, wrote a letter to be laid before Charles II., 
in which he discloses the perfidious designs of Charles I. In 
this letter, published by the Roman Catholic historian Lin- 
gard,f Glamorgan says : “ One army of ten thousand men 
was to have come out of Ireland, through North Wales ; an¬ 
other, of a like number at least, under my command-in-chief, 
have expected my return in South Wales, which Sir Henry 
Gage was to have commanded as lieutenant-general; and 
a third, should have consisted of rf matter of 0000 men, 
2000 of which were to have been Liegois, commanded by Sir 
Francis Edmonds, 2000 Lorrainers, to have been commanded 
by Colonel Browne, and 2000 of such French, English, Scots, 
and Irish, as could be drawn out of Flanders and Holland. . 

. . . The maintenance of this army of foreigners was 

to have come from the Pope, and such Catholic Princes as 

* Guizot, Reval. d’Angleterre, ii. p. 180. 

t History of England, x. Note G\ London, 18119. 




0 G 


DEATH OF TIIE KING. 


lie should have drawn into it, having engaged to afford and 
procure £30,000 a month; out of which the foreign army 
was first to be provided for, and the remainder to be divided 
among the other armies. And for this purpose had I power 
to treat with the Pope and Catholic princes, with partic¬ 
ular advantages promised to Catholics for the quiet enjoying 
their religion, without the penalties which the statutes in 
force had power to inflict upon them. And my instructions 
for this purpose, and my powers to treat and conclude there¬ 
upon, were signed by the King under his pocket-signet, with 
blanks for me to put in the names of Pope or Princes, to the 
end the King might have a starting-hole to deny the having 
given me such commissions, if excepted against by his own 
subjects ; leaving me as it were at stake, who, for his majes¬ 
ty’s sake, was willing to undergo it, trusting to his word 
alone.” 

Such were the intrigues of Charles I. 

While the Church had often repeated these words of Saint 
Isidore, contained in the canons of the Fourth Council of To¬ 
ledo : “ He is a king who governs his people justly; if he 
does otherwise, he shall be king no longerwhile the Pa¬ 
pacy claimed the privilege of dethroning tyrants, and on that 
ground had publicly preached against Henry III. and Henry 
IV. of France; many of the most pious men of the age we 
are describing (Milton and others), claimed the same right 
for the people. “If I blame tyrants,” asked the poet, “in 
what does that concern kings ?” 

These men thought that Charles by his perfidy was deserv¬ 
ing death, and that his quality of king was no hindrance to 
the exercise of justice by the Parliament. “Parliament,” 
said they, “ is prince in the land like the king, and more than 
the king.” 

O 

This was a mistake. We do not think that a king should 
ever be condemned to death : and one of the most glorious 
results of modern constitutional principles is the irresponsi¬ 
bility of monarchs, which screens them from the faults of 


DEATH OK THE KING. 


97 


their governments. The death of the King must forever Lear 
in history a mark of reprobation. We condemn it in the 
most explicit manner. But if the ideas of Milton and of so 
many Englishmen in the seventeenth century are erroneous, 
their error is akin to that of Melancthon, Farel, and Calvin; 
and of the churches of Berne, Zuric, Schaflhausen, and Basle, 
in the case of Servetus. We shrink with as much horror 
from the death of the heretic as from that of the despot. We 
abhor these executions, as we abhor the piles of John IIuss, 
of Savonarola, and of the thousands of victims whom Rome 
has immolated. And yet we should take the peculiarities of 
the times into consideration. Between the 30th of January, 
1649, and the 21st of January, 1793, there had elapsed not 
merely one hundred and forty-four years, but many ages. 
One of the first essentials for the proper understanding of 
.history is to transport ourselves into the times we are de¬ 
scribing ; but there are few individuals who possess the in¬ 
tellectual strength required for such a task, and hence arise 
so many prejudices. 

Let us add one circumstance which makes a notable differ¬ 
ence between the deaths of the guilty Charles I. and the in¬ 
nocent Louis XVI. An income of £1000 w^as assigned to 
each of the King’s children wdio chanced still to be in Engr 
land. And more than this, the Commons ordered that 
Charles’s corpse should be buried at Windsor Palace, in a 
vault in Saint George’s Chapel which already contained the 
remains of Henry VIII. and of his third queen, Jane Sey¬ 
mour. Six horses, covered with black" cloth drew the hearse ; 
other coaches followed, and the Earl of Richmond, accom¬ 
panied by the Marquis of Hertford, the Earls of Southampton 
and Lindsey, Bishop Juxon, and a few^ of the King’s attend¬ 
ants paid the last sad honors to their former master. 

To banish these mournful scenes, we will quote one of Ol¬ 
iver’s private notes. We have need to read it that we may 
recover from the impression produced by the death-warrant 
of Charles I. With Cromwell we pass suddenly from bitter 

9 



93 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


to sweet, and from sweet to bitter. His son Richard bad ju3t 
married ; and the following letter addressed to the young wife 
is like soft music in the midst of a howling tempest. 

“ To my beloved Daughter, Dorothy Cromwell, at Hursley . 

These. 

“From aboard the John, 33th August, IG19. 

“My Dear Daughter, 

“ Your Letter was very welcome to me. I like to see any¬ 
thing from your hand; because indeed I stick not to say, 1 
do entirely love you. And therefore I hope a word of ad¬ 
vice will not be unwelcome nor unacceptable to thee. 

“ I desire you both to make it above all things your busi¬ 
ness to seek the Lord: to be frequently calling upon Him, 
that He would manifest Himself to you in His Son; and be 
listening what return He makes to you,—for He will be 
speaking in your ear and in your heart, if you attend there¬ 
unto. I desire you to provoke your Husband likewise there¬ 
unto. As for the pleasures of this Life, and outward Busi¬ 
ness, let that be upon the bye. Be above all these things, by 

Faith in Christ: and then Amu shall have the true use and 
7 %/ 

comfort of them,—and not otherwise. I have much satisfac¬ 
tion in hope your spirit is this way set; and I desire you may 
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ; and that I may hear thereof. The Lord is 
very near: which we see by His wonderful works : and there¬ 
fore Fie looks that we of this generation draw near to Him. 
This late great mercy of Ireland is a great manifestation 
thereof.” [News had just arrived that the Irish army before 
Dublin had been defeated]. “Your husband will acquaint 
you with it. We should be much stirred up in our spirits to 
thankfulness. We much need the spirit of Christ to enable 
us to praise God for so admirable a mercy. 

“ The Lord bless thee, my dear Daughter, 

“ I rest, thy loving Father, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 


DEATH OF THE KINO. 


99 


"I hear thou didst lately miscarry. Prithee take heed of 
a coach by all means; borrow thy Father’s nag when thou 
intendest to go abroad.”* 

It is delightful to read Cromwell’s letters to his children. 
What wisdom, what tender affection in that we have just se¬ 
lected ! “Be above all these things by Faith in Christ; and 
then you shall have the true use and comfort of them,—and 
not otherwise !” W T hat truth in these words ! What indica¬ 
tions of a soul that has descended into the depths of a Chris¬ 
tian life ! And how striking a contrast between the gentle 
amiability of the postscript and the iron front and stern eye 
that we have observed in him at other times. 

After the King’s death a circumstance occurred which we 
cannot pass by unnoticed before concluding this chapter. It 
was one of those acts which, says a recent writer most hostile 
to Cromwell, “ were committed by him against a good-na¬ 
ture, not in the indulgence of a depraved one.” We may, 
however, question if it was “ against his good-nature.” 
Charles was dead. In Oliver’s opinion, the life of this prince 
had been justly cut short; but we have seen how long the 
future Protector shrunk from before this terrible extremity, 
and how he wept when the royal father embraced his chil¬ 
dren for the last time. Cromwell desired to view the mon¬ 
arch’s decapitated body. His greatest adversaries testify that 
he was not cruel, and if he had really committed a crime, 
would he have sought so mournful a spectacle ? But there 
was a solemn lesson in his sovereign’s lifeless corpse. He 
opened the coffin himself, and sadly gazed upon the cold in¬ 
animate body without cruelty, or anger, or exultation, but 
with reverential fear as he thought of the judgments of 
God. To Cromwell, who had so often met it face to face, 
and had so often braved it on the battle-field, death had no¬ 
thing strange : it had long been familiar to him. The only 


* Carlyle, ii. 46. 


100 


DEATH OF TIIE KING. 


feeling to which he gave utterance w r as the thought that dea. A 
had surprised Charles in a healthy state, and that his body, 
alas ! had been ■well made for length of life. We cannot 
doubt that Oliver’s soul was filled with that solemn feeling 
which is usually experienced in the presence of a dead body. 
And w T ho was it that lay before him ? . . . A descendant of 
kings,—a mighty prince,—a ruler of three kingdoms,—who 
had presumed to check the new impulses that were urging 
his people onwards to liberty and truth, and who with one 
hand had torn the time-honored charters of the nation, while 
he stretched the other towards the despotic Pope of Rome. 
As he looked at this King, now dead, what sensations must 
have crowded into his saddened heart! Thy 'pomp is brought 
down to the grave; the worm is spread under thee, and the 
ivorms cover thee. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will 
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of 
God ; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in 
the sides of the north. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, 
to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look 
upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that 
made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms ? Crom¬ 
well before the dead body of Charles I. is a scene worthy to 
be described by a Milton or a Shakspeare, or by some genius 
still more sublime than they. 

England was not alone guilty of the King’s death. “ The 
powers of Europe,” says Southey, “ had most of them se¬ 
cretly fomented the rebellion, and made no attempt to avert 
the catastrophe wdiich it brought about. France more espe¬ 
cially had acted treacherously towards the King.” Claren¬ 
don complains bitterly of the apathy of the princes of Chris¬ 
tendom at this crisis. “The rebellion of subjects against 
their prince,” he says, “ ought to be looked upon by all other 
kings as an assault of their own sovereignty.”* And the 
writer first quoted considers “ the miseries which France has 


• Rebellion, book vL See also end of book xi. 


DEATH OF THE KING. 


101 


undergone, and which Spain is undergoing, and to undergo,” 
as so many pages for man’s instruction, written in what Lord 
Bacon has denominated Ilistoria JVemesios. 

We must, at least, remember that the execution of Charles 
I. was the crime of many, and renounce the prejudices which 
would impute it solely to one man, who sought so long to 
avert it. 


9* 


CHAPTER VI, 


IRELAND. 


TT.is Irish Saint Bartholomew—Romish Cruelties—A Priest—Surgery oi 
Slaughter—Cromwell’s Appointment—Sailing of the Army—Crom¬ 
well’s Plan—Theocracy—Storming of Drogheda, Wexford, and Ross 
—Peace and Prosperity—Cromwell’s charge to the Popish Prelates— 
Early days of Richard s Marriage—Cause of Ireland’s Sufferings. 

The Irish Roman Catholics, as we have seen, had broken 
out into rebellion, and massacred an incredible number of 
Protestants, varying, according to different accounts, from 
50,000 to 200,000 victims. This was the Hibernian Saint 
Bartholomew. At that time, the Roman Catholics of Ireland 
had no cause of complaint: Charles I. had taken care of 
them. They had their archbishops, bishops, vicars-general; 
and above all, a great number of Jesuits. It was in such a 
state of things that, shrouding themselves in the deepest se¬ 
crecy, like the West Indian negroes meditating a plot for the 
massacre of the white men, the Irish conceived the design, 
not only of erasing from their country every trace of the Eng¬ 
lish nation, and of Protestantism, but also of crossing over 
into England, of becoming its masters, with the aid of Spain 
and of the Pope, and of abolishing the Reformed Religion in 
that island. The massacre was frightful; and we must recall 
it to our minds that we may be able to appreciate with jus¬ 
tice the war which re-established peace and order. 

“ On all sides,” writes a great historian, “ the Protestants 
of Ireland were attacked unawares, ejected from their houses, 
hunted down, slaughtered, exposed to all the perils, all the 


IRELAND. 


103 


toitures that religious and patriotic hatred 'could invent . 

A half-savage people, passionately attached to its barbarism, 
.... eager to avenge in a day ages of outrage and misery, 
with a proud joy committed excesses which struck their 
ancient masters with horror and dismay.”* 

In fact, the Catholics burnt the houses of the Protestants, 
turned them out naked in the midst of winter, and drove them, 
like herds of swine, before ttem. If ashamed of their nudity, 
and desirous of seeking shelter from the rigor of a remark¬ 
ably severe season, these unhappy wretches took refuge in a 
barn, and concealed themselves under the straw; the rebels 
instantly set fire to it and burned them alive. At other 
times they were led without clothing to be drowned in rivers; 
and if, on the*road, they did not move quick enough, they 
were urged forward at the point of the pike. When they 
reached the river, or the sea, they were precipitated into it 
in bands of several hundreds, which is doubtless an exao-o-er- 
ation. If these poor wretches rose to the surface of the wa¬ 
ter, men were stationed along the brink to plunge them in 
again with the butts of their muskets, or to fire at and kill 
them. Husbands were cut to pieces in presence of their 
wives; wives and virgins were abused in the sight of their 
nearest relations ; and infants of seven or eight years were 
hung before the eyes of their parents. Nay, the Irish even 
went so far as to teach their own children to strip and kill 
the children of the English, and dash out their brains against 
the stones. Numbers of Protestants were buried alive, as 
many as seventy in one trench. An Irish priest, named Mac 
Odeglian, captured forty or fifty Protestants, and persuaded 
them to abjure their religion on a promise of quarter. After 
their abjuration, he asked them if they believed that Christ 
was bodily present in the host, and that the Pope was the 
head of the Church ? and on their replying in the affirma¬ 
tive, he said, “ Now, then, you are in a very good faith 


• Guizot, Rcvol. d’Anglctcrrc, i 202. 


104 


IRELAND. 


and, for fear they should relapse into heresy, cut all tlieir 
throats.* 


Cruel fighting, desperate violence, and frightful misery, af¬ 
flicted the unhappy land during eight years. Armies, or 
savage hordes rather, full of hatred, disobedience, and cru¬ 
elty, met and fought. Murder, pillage, conflagration wasted 
the most fertile parts of Ireland. Cromwell was destined to 
restore order and peace, and give to that country a prosper¬ 
ity which it had not known for many a year. But how was 
he to attain this end ? 

“ To those who think that a land overrun with sanguinary 
quacks,” says one of the Protector’s biographers,! “can be 
healed by sprinkling it with rose-water, these letters [of 
Cromwell] must be very horrible. Terrible surgery this: 
but is it surgery and judgment, or atrocious murder merely ? 
Oliver Cromwell did believe in God’s judgments; and did 
not believe in the rose-water plan of surgery, in philanthropic 
sentimentalism, r . . . He arrives in Ireland an armed sol¬ 
dier, solemnly conscious to himself that he is the soldier of 
God the Just;—an armed soldier, terrible as death, relent¬ 
less as doom; doing God’s judgments on the enemies of 
God!” 


It will easily be conceived how great were the difficulties 
to be encountered in reducing Ireland to submission; and on 
this account few persons cared to undertake it. All parties 
concurred in Cromwell’s appointment to the Lord-lieuten¬ 
ancy of that province, with the supreme civil and military 
authority. 

He was deeply sensible of the importance of the task which 
devolved upon him, and appeared the next day in Parliament 
full of anxiety and seriousness. At first he declared “ his 
unworthiness and disability to support so great a charge 
but, as he was not one of those who shrink from a duty be¬ 
cause the duty is difficult, he announced his “ entire resigna* 


* Sir J. Temple, Irish Rebellion, p. 103. London. lG4fi. 

♦ Oarlvle, ii. pp. 52, 53. 



IRELAND. 


105 


tion to the commands of the House, and his absolute depen¬ 
dence upon God’s providence and blessing, from whom he 
had received so many signal marks of favor and protection.” 

Yet he did not conceal the obstacles he should have to 
encounter in the mission conferred on him : “ That kingdom,” 
said lie,' “ is reduced to so great straits that I am willing to 
engage my own person in this expedition, because of the dif¬ 
ficulties which appear in it; and more out of hope, with the 
hazard of my life, to give some obstruction to the successes 
which the rebels are at present exalted with. And all that 
I desire is, that no more time be lost in the preparations 
which are to be made for so great a work.”* 

In compliance with his wishes, and under his direction, 
the Commons made incredible exertions to raise money, pro¬ 
vide ships, and collect troops. 

Cromwell departed for Ireland at the head of 12,000 men. 
Before they embarked, the troops observed a day of fasting 
and prayer: three ministers solemnly invoked the blessing 
of God on the expedition; and three officers, the Colonels 
Gough and Harrison, with the Lord-lieutenant himself, ex¬ 
pounded certain pertinent passages of Scripture. The army 
was under the strictest discipline: not an oath was to be 
heard throughout the whole camp, the soldiers spending 
their leisure hours in reading their Bibles, in singing psalms, 
and in religious conferences. 

Oliver now began, as a general, to consider the plan he 
ought to follow for the restoration of order. Should he em¬ 
ploy a few weeks, with the sacrifice of 5000 men, or several 
years, with the loss of perhaps 20,000 ? This was an im¬ 
portant question. If he took prompt and formidable meas¬ 
ures, such as were calculated to spread terror on e\ ery side, 
he would immediately check the disease. If, on the con¬ 
trary, he proceeded with a light and hesitating hand, he 
would prolong it indefinitely. To Cromwell the most ener¬ 
getic way appeared the most humane. He acted as men 

• Clarendon book xii. 


106 


IRELAND. 


do in a great conflagration, where the adjoining houses are 
pulled down to save the more remote, or as in a hospital, 
where a diseased limb is cut off to preserve the others. 
Having weighed everything, he decided for the hand of iron. 
That hand is never amiable ; but yet there are cases in which 
it is salutary. 

On the approach of the general of the English republic, 
all the parties that ravaged Ireland had united. Catholics 
of different shades, Episcopalian and Presbyterian royalists, 
had rallied round Ormond’s standard. So that, at the mo¬ 
ment when Cromwell set foot in that island, there remained 
only two towns, Dublin and Londonderry, that held for the 
Commonwealth ; both of which were beleaguered by the 
enemy’s troops. 

The success of the republican army was prodigious. 
“ Oliver descended on Ireland,” says Carlyle, “ like the 
hammer of Thor; smote it, as at one fell stroke, into dust 
and ruin, never to reunite against him more.” 

We shall not follow Cromwell through all his militarv ex- 
ploits; but we must extract one at least of those terrible 
pages which cannot be read without emotion and pain, but 
which, as we have observed, present this great man to us as 
following the most skilful course to arrive at a prompt and 
universal pacification. This hero, so affectionate towards his 
friends, so tender to his wife and children, and then inflexi¬ 
ble as death before the enemies of the Commonwealth, is an 
enigma for which we naturally seek a solution. One solu¬ 
tion readily offers itself, and I think it is a true one. We 
should cease to regard him in his individual character, and 
look upon him only as a general and a judge,—the represen¬ 
tative of that inexorable Justice whom the pagans repre¬ 
sented with a bandage over her eyes and a sword in her 
hand. 

There is, however, another solution, which explains not 
only this famous expedition, but also the whole of Crom¬ 
well’s life. This great man shared in the error which the 


IRELAND. 


101 


Papacy had held during the Middle Ages, and which most 
of the Reformers entertained during the sixteenth and seven- 
teentli centuries. He did not make a sufficient distinction 
between the old and the new covenant, between the Old and 
the New Testament. He thought that a Christian, and par¬ 
ticularly a public man, ought to seek his rules of conduct in 
the Hebrew theocracy. The terrible judgments inflicted by 
God’s command on the unbelieving nations in the times of 
the judges and kings of Israel, appeared to him not only to 
authorize but to necessitate similar judgments. He thought 
that, like Moses and Joshua, he might slay Balaam with the 
sword (Numbers xxxi. 8 ; Joshua xiii. 22). It may be that 
he did not follow this out explicitly ; but it was with this 
prejudice and under this impulse that he usually acted. 

This was wrong. The Jewish theocracy existed no longer ; 

and its rules of conduct had been abolished with it. 

> 

The precepts which ought to direct the life of a Christian 
are contained in our Saviour’s sermon on the mount and in 
other of his discourses, as well as in the writings of the 
Apostles. But we may understand how men of upright 
mind easily took for the guidance of their lives all the decla¬ 
rations comprised in the Word of God, even those which are 
no longer applicable under the change of covenant. 

As soon as Ormond was informed of Cromwell’s arrival, 
he withdrew his army from the neighborhood of Dublin, and 
resolved to put Drogheda in a position to resist the enemy. 
He threw into this strong town all the flower of his army, 
and gave the command to Sir Arthur Ashton, an officer of 
great reputation. 

On the day following the Lord-lieutenant’s appearance 
before this city he ordered a general assault, which being 
renewed the next morning, he entered it by two different 
breaches. We give the conclusion of his report to Parlia¬ 
ment, dated Dublin, 17th September, 1649.* 

“Divers of the enemy retreated into the Mill mount, a 
* Newspapers, in Par!. Hist., xix. 201. Carlyle, ii. 61. 


108 


IRELAND. 


place very strong and of difficult access; being exceedingly 
high, having a good graft [ditch], and strongly palisadoed. 
The governor, Sir Arthur Ashton, and divers considerable 
officers being there, our men getting up to them, were 
ordered by me to put them all to the sword. And, indeed, 
being in the heat of action, I forbade them to spare any that 
were in arms in the town : and, I think, that night they put 
to the sword about 2000 men ;—divers of the officers and 
soldiers being fled over the bridge into the other part of the 
town, where about 100 of them possessed Saint Peter’s 
church steeple, some the west gate, and others a strong 
round tower next the gate called Saint Sunday’s. These, 
being summoned to yield to mercy, refused. Whereupon I 
ordered the steeple of Saint Peter’s Church to be fired, when 
one of them was heard to say in the midst of the flames • 
‘ God damn me ! God confound me ! I burn, I burn !’ 

“ The next day, the other two towers were summoned ; in 
one of which was about six or seven score ; but they refused 
to yield themselves ; and we, knowing that hunger musl 
compel them, set only good guards to secure them from run¬ 
ning away until their stomachs were come down. From 
one of the said towers, notwithstanding their condition, they 
killed and wounded some of our men. When they submit¬ 
ted, their officers were knocked on the head; and every 
tenth man of the soldiers killed ; and the rest shipped for 
the Barbadoes. The soldiers in the other tower were all 
spared, as to their lives only ; and shipped likewise for the 
Barbadoes. 

“ I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of 
God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbrued 
their hands in so much innocent blood ; and that it will tend 
to prevent the effusion of blood for the future. Which are 
the satisfactory grounds to such actions, which otherwise 
cannot but work remorse and regret.” 

It is consolatory to read these words, which reveal to ua 
the motives of the general’s severity. 


IRELAND. 


109 


.“ And now/’ he continues, “ give me leave to 

say how it comes to pass that this work is wrought. It was 
set upon some of our hearts, that a great tiling should be 

done, not by power or might, but by the Spirit of God. 

It was this Spirit who gave your men courage, and took it 
away again ; and gave the enemy courage, and took it away 
again ; and gave your men courage again, and therewith this 
happy success. And therefore it is good that God alone 
have all the glory.” 

This extract will suffice. Cromwell acted in Ireland like 
a great statesman, and the means he employed were those 
best calculated promptly to restore order in that unhappy 
country. And yet we cannot avoid regretting that a man, 
a Christian man, should have been called to wage so terrible 
a war, and to show towards his enemies greater severity 
than had ever, perhaps, been exercised by the pagan leaders 
of antiquity. Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be 
called the children of God. 

In the midst of this terrible war, there are actions which 
elevate at once the character of the struggle and of the gen¬ 
eral in command. Is it not a feature that deserves our ad¬ 
miration in history, when we hear Cromwell, after the most 
o-lorious of his victories, declaring that he Avill mention no 
man by name, because his soldiers fight for the cause of 
God, and not for their own glory ? And is it not affecting 
to see him, in his dispatch to Parliament on the taking of 
Drogheda, preserve an absolute silence as to his own ex¬ 
ploits, and abstain from relating that he mounted to the 
assault in person, after his troops had met with a severe 
check, and that the success of this affair was due to his own 
intrepidity ? This certainly is not the hypocritical braggart 
whom some historians have described. 

From Drogheda he marched to Wexford, which lie sum- 
nioned to surrender. In this county the rebels had exer¬ 
cised more than their usual cruelty. They had seized on 
‘<all the castles and houses of the English, and had driven 

10 




110 


IRELAND. 


them out with their wives and children stripped naked.*’ 
They had further proclaimed that any Irish who should har¬ 
bor or relieve an Englishman, should be put to death.* Just 
as the governor of the city was on the point of surrendering 
to Cromwell’s summons, the Earl of Castlehaven brought 
him a relief, which induced him to hold out. The Lord- 
lieutenant, being resolved not to procrastinate, immediately 
gave orders for the assault, and became master of the place, 
with a loss to the enemy of 2000 men, who were put to the 
sword. 

On the 17th of October he appeared before Ross. This 
was the third place to which he laid siege. The same day 
he sent to the commander-in-chief the following summons :—\ 


“ Sir, 


“ 17th October, 1G49. 


“ Since my coming into Ireland, I have this witness for 
myself, that I have endeavored to avoid the effusion of 
blood; having been before no place to which such terms 
have not been first sent as might have turned to the good 
and preservation of those to whom they were offered; this 
being my principle, that the people and places where I come 
may not suffer, except through their own wilfulness. 

“ To the end I may observe the like course with this place 
and people therein, I do hereby summon you to deliver the 
town of Ross into my hands, to the use of the Parliament of 
England. Expecting your speedy answer, I rest, 

“ Your Servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 


As the governor did not immediately reply to this sum¬ 
mons, Cromwell ordered the batteries to be prepared. Or¬ 
mond, Ardes, and Castlehaven, who were on the other side 
of the river, threw 1500 men into the town ; and on the 

* Lingard, Hist. Eng. x. Note A. % 4, G. 
f Newspapers m Cromwelliana, G7. Carlyle, ii. 83. 


IRELAND. 


Ill 


19th the heavy artillery of the English army opened theii 
fire. The Irish commander, Lucas Taaf, immediately sent 
out a flag of truce, to which the assailants replied by the 
ofler of favorable terms ; That the besieged army should 
march out with their arms, bag and baggage, with drums 
beating and colors flying ; and the English general promised 
that the inhabitants should be permitted “ to live peaceablv, 
free from the injury and violence of the soldiers.” 

The two lessons of Drogheda and Wexford had produced 
their effect. These terms were accepted. And it was not 
only at Ross that the same policy succeeded. The arms fell 
from the rebels’ hands in every quarter of Ireland, before the 
formidable name of Cromwell. By the middle of May the 
whole country w r as reduced, with the exception of one or 
two places which Ireton subsequently captured. Ormond 
escaped to France. Thus, by inflicting these two terrible 
blows at Drogheda and Wexford, the victor taught the mur¬ 
derers the necessity of submission, prevented a greater effu¬ 
sion of blood, and restored peace in Ireland. 

Historians, even those most opposed to Cromwell, ac¬ 
knowledge that no statesman ever did so much as he for the 
good of that poor country. Public order and security, such 
as had not been known for many years, revived. The prov¬ 
ince of Connaught, then a vast desert district, was soon 
changed into a fruitful country, and the rest of Ireland was 
everywhere cultivated with activity and confidence. In the 
space of little more than tw'O years, the whole kingdom was 
covered with elegant and useful buildings, fine plantations, 
and new inclosures. Peace, ease, and industry had returned 
to that unhappy land. Clarendon, and M. Villemain after 
him, cannot conceal their astonishment at it; and there is 
no impropriety in applying the rule of Scripture to Crom¬ 
well’s conquest of Ireland : the tree is known by its fruit. 

We need not wonder at these results, if w T e call to mind 
Milton’s description of Cromwell’s soldiers :—“ He raised an 
army as numerous and well-equipped as was ever before 


112 


IRELAND. 


done within so short a period ; lessoned to the most perfect 
obedience, high in the affections of its fellow-citizens, and 
not more formidable to its enemies in the field than admira¬ 
ble for its behavior to them out of it; having so forborne all 
injury to their persons or properties, in comparison with the 
violence, intemperance, profaneness, and debauchery of their 
own royalists, as to make them exult in the change, and hail 
in them a host not of fiends but of friends (non hostes sed 
hospites :) ar protection to the good, a terror to the bad, and 
an encouragement to every species of piety and virtue.”* 
The model of this armament was new r , and has never been 
recovered. 

Oliver in Ireland was not content to wield the sword; he 
also labored with the pen. He was not only a general, but 
put himself forward as a theologian. The popish hierarchy 
of Ireland had assembled at Clonmacnoise in Decembei 
1649, where they drew up a manifesto. To this he imme¬ 
diately replied, and his Declaration f is one of the most re¬ 
markable documents ever composed by a soldier. In the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the mental movement 
was so powerful, that all callings were confounded in one. 
Zwingle was a diplomatist, almost a general; and Oli¬ 
ver Cromwell assumed the duties of a doctor in divinity 
Let us listen to a powerful protestant voice; the like of 
which, perhaps, was not heard in the seventeenth century. 

The Irish prelates had spoken of the Clergy and Laity. 
Cromwell thought with Luther, “ that all Christians belong 
to the spiritual estate, and that there is no other difference 
between them than in the functions they discharge.” He 
believed in the words addressed by St. Peter to all believ¬ 
ers : ye are a royal priesthood. And accordingly, on this 
subject, the English general administers a sharp lesson to 
the popish prelates of Ireland. He says :— 

“ The subject of this reconciliation was, as they say, * the 

* Yirtutis etiam omnis et pietatis hortatores. Defcnsio Secunclaj 108 

t Carlyle, ii. 120—139. 


IRELAND. 


113 


Clergy and Laity.' The discontent and division itself was 
grounded on the late difference of opinion happening amongst 
the ‘ Prelates and Laity.' I wonder not at differences in 
opinion, at discontents and divisions, where so antichristian 
and dividing a term as ‘ Clergy and Laity’ is given and re¬ 
ceived. A term unknown to any save the antichristian 
Church, and such as derive themselves from her ; Ab initio 
non fuit sic. The most pure and primitive times, as they 
best knew what true union was, so, in all addresses to the 
several Churches they wrote unto, not one word of this. 
The members of the Churohes are styled ‘ Brethren and 
Saints of the household of Faith and, although they had 
orders and distinctions amongst them for administration of 
ordinances,—of a far different use and character from yours, 
—yet it nowhere occasioned them to say contemptim, and by 
way of lessening in contra-distinguishing, ‘ Laity and Clergy.’ 
It was your pride that begat this expression. And it is for 
filthy lucre’s sake that you keep it up ; that by making the 
people believe that they are not so holy as yourselves, they 
might, for their penny, purchase some sanctity from you; 
and that you might bridle, saddle, and ride them at your 
pleasure ; and do (as is most true of you) as the Scribes and 
Pharisees of old did by their * Laity,’—keep the knowledge 
of the Law from them, and then be able in their pride to 
say, * This people that know not the Law are cursed.’ ” 

The prelates had declared that they were “ as one body 
united,” to forward by their counsels and actions “ the ad¬ 
vancements of his Majesty’s rights and the Catholic religion.” 
Oliver will not allow that men should have recourse to car¬ 
nal means for the advancement of religion. In this he 
shows himself superior to his age, and almost to himself:— 
“ And now surely if these [the rights of the Church,] 
that are outward things, may not thus be contended for; 
how much less may the doctrines, of Faith, which are the 
works of Grace and the Spirit, be endeavored by so unsuit¬ 
able means ! lie that bids us * contend for the Faith once 

10 * 


114 


IRELAND. 


delivjred to the Saints,’ tells us that we should do it by 
‘ avoiding the spirit of Cain, Corah, and Balaam ; and by 
* building up ourselves in the most holy Faith,’ not pinning it 
upon other men’s sleeves. Praying * in the Holy Ghost ;* 
not mumbling over matins. Keeping ‘ ourselves in the love 
of God;’ not destroying men because they will not be of 
our Faith. ‘Waiting for the mercy of Jesus Christ;’ not 
cruel, but merciful!—But, alas, why is this said ? Why are 
these pearls cast before you ? You are resolved not to be 
charmed from ‘ using the instrument of a foolish shepherd !’ 
You are a part of Antichrist, whose kingdom ihe Scripture 
so expressly speaks should be ‘ laid in blood ;’ yea, ‘ in the 
blood of the Saints.’ You have shed great store of that 
already:—and ere it be long, you must all of you have 
‘ blood to drink ;’ ‘ even the dregs of the cup of the fury 
and the wrath of God, which will be poured out unto 
you.’ ” 

The prelates, after constituting themselves the defenders 
of the hierarchy and of the king, had finally alluded to the 
veople. Cromwell thought that in reality the people were 
the last subject of their cares. He rallied them bitterly on 
this point; and, after reminding them of an expression of 
Cardinal Wolsey’s, he prophesied a futurity, which the 
French Revolution of 1789 has realized :— 

“ In the last place, you are pleased,—having after your 
usual manner remembered yourselves first, and ‘his Majesty,’ 
as you call him, next; like a man of your tribe with his Ego 
et Rex meus, —you are pleased to take the people into con¬ 
sideration. Lest they should seem to be forgotten ; or rather 
you would make me believe they are much in your thoughts. 
Indeed I think they are ! Alas, poor ‘ Laity !’ That you 
and your king might ride them, and jade them, as your 
Church hath done, and as your king hath done by youi 
means, almost in all ages! But it would not be hard to 
prophesy, That, the beast being stung and kicking, this world 
will not last always. Arbitrary power is a thing men begin 


IRELAND. 


115 


to be weary of, in kings and churchmen; their juggle be¬ 
tween them mutually to uphold civil and ecclesiastical ty¬ 
ranny begins to be transparent. Some have cast off both ; 
and hope by the grace of God to keep so. Others are at it! 
Many thoughts are laid up about it, which will have their 
issue and vent. This principle, That people are for kings 
and churches, and saints are for the pope or churchmen, as 
you call them, begins to be exploded ;—and therefore I won¬ 
der not to see the fraternity so much enraged. I wish * the 
people ’ wiser than to be troubled at you ; or solicitous for 
what you say or do.” 

The popish bishops had spoken of their obligations to their 
flocks. At this word Cromwell becomes indignant; his fea¬ 
tures flush up, and he examines whether they are really q)as- 
tors , and whether they really have flocks. 

“ To which last a word or two. I wonder how this rela¬ 
tion was brought about! If they be ‘ Flocks,’ and you am¬ 
bitious of the relative term? Yes, you are Pastors; but it 
is by an antiphrasis,— a minimepascendo ! You either teach 
the people not at all; or else you do it, as some of you came 
to this conventicle who were sent by others, tanquam Pro- 
curatores, —teach them, as your manner is, by sending a 
company of silly ignorant priests, who can but say the mass, 
and scarcely that intelligibly; or with such stuff as these 
your senseless Declarations and Edicts ! But how dare you 
assume to call these men your ‘Flocks,’ whom you have 
plunged into so horrid a rebellion, by which you have made 
them and the country almost a ruinous heap ? And whom 
you have fleeced, and polled, and peeled hitherto, and make 
it your business to do so still. You cannot feed them ! You 
poison them with your false, abominable, and antichristian 
doctrine and practices. You keep the Word of God from 
them ; and instead thereof give them your senseless Orders 
and Traditions. You teach them ‘implicit belief:’—he that 
goes amongst them may find many that do not understand 
anything in the matters of your religion. I have had few 


110 


IRELAND. 


better answers from any since I came into Ireland that are 
of your flocks than this, ‘ that indeed they did not trouble 
...emselves about matters of religion, but left that to thd 
Church.’ Thus are your ‘ Flocks’ fed ; and such credit have 
fou of them. But they must take heed of ‘ losing their re¬ 
ligion.’ Alas, poor creatures! what have they to ‘lose?’ ” 

The Conventicle of Clonmacnoise had referred to the dan¬ 
ger of seeing the Catholic religion extirpated. Cromwell re¬ 
plies that you cannot extirpate what has never been rooted, 
and that for eighty years past the saying of mass had been 
prohibited in Ireland, tie excluded Popery, or at least the 
mass, from the privilege of religious liberty. He appears to 
have afterwards changed his opinions on this subject, as we 
shall see from a letter to Mazarin. He continues thus:— 

“ First, therefore, I shall not, where I have power, and the 
Lord is pleased to bless me, suffer the exercise of the mass, 
where I can take notice of it. No, nor in any way suffer you 
that are papists, where I can find you seducing the people, 
or by any overt act violating the laws established ; but if you 
:ome into my hands, I shall cause to be inflicted the punish- 
nents appointed by the laws—to use your own term, secun¬ 
dum gravitatem delicti —upon you; and shall try to reduce 
hings to their former state on this behalf. As for the people, 
ivhat thoughts they have in matters of religion in their own 
Dreasts, I cannot reach; but shall think it my duty, if they 
walk honestly and peaceably, not to cause them in the least 
to suffer for the same. And shall endeavor to walk patiently 
and in love towards them, to see if at ar^ time it shall please 
God to give them another or a better mind. And all men 
under the power of England, within this dominion, are hereby 
required and enjoined strictly and religiously to do the 
same.” 

It was from Youghal in the month of January that the 
Lord-lieutenant addressed this archiepiscopal charge to the 
popish priests and bishops. He possessed at one and the 
same time something of the characters of Joshua and Aaron. 


IRELAND. 


117 


But he was always a father, and a Christian father. I am 
at a loss to understand how those who doubt Cromwell’s 
real Christianity can explain his letters to his children. If 
the mighty ones of the earth insert a few words of religion 
in their public speeches, no conclusion can be drawn from 
them. It is a mere form, they say. But when the truest 
expressions of Christian piety are found in the sanctuary of 
a father’s heart, who but God placed them there ? 

In the midst of the terrible campaign in Ireland, in the 
interval between the civil war in England, that was termi¬ 
nated by the death of the king, and the Avar in Scotland, Ave 
meet with a family episode, one feature of Avhich has already 
been pointed out. Cromwell’s eldest son had just married. 
There is no great man recorded in history into Avhose domes¬ 
tic life Ave can see more clearly than into Oliver’s. In his 
case the wish of the ancient Avas realized : “ his house is of 
.glass,”—a fortunate circumstance, of which the historian 
should be eager to profit. 

While the general was preparing to embark for Ireland, 
Richard and Dorothy took adA r antage of the sunny days of 
July to make their joyful marriage excursion. Oliver, in 
great delight, Avrote from Bristol (19tli July, 1649) to the 
bride’s father: “I am very glad to hear of your Avelfare, 
and that our children have so good leisure to make a jour¬ 
ney to eat cherries :—it’s very excusable in my daughter ; I 
hope she may haA^e a good pretence for it! I assure you, 
sir, I Avish her A r ery well; and I believe she knoAvs it. I 
pray you tell her fi om me, I expect she Avrites often to me; 
by which I shall understand Iioav all your family doth, and 
she Avill be kept in some exercise. I have delivered my son 
up to you ; and I hope you will counsel him : he will need 
it; and indeed I believe he likes Avell what you say, and Avill 
be advised by you. I Avish he may be serious ; the times 
require it.” Yes, in truth, the times did require young men 
to be serious,—and so does the present day! 

Yet Oliver feared that the SAveets of matrimony Avould 


118 


IRELAND. 


have too engrossing a hold upon his son’s heart; and oil the 
13th of August, 1G49, he again addressed his “loving 
brother, Richard Mayor,” his son’s father-in-law, “from 
aboard the John“ I would have him (Richard) mind and 
understand business, read a little history, study the mathe¬ 
matics and cosmography :—these are good, with subordina¬ 
tion to the things of God. Better than idleness, or mere 
outward worldly contents. These fit for public services, for 
which a man is born.” In these little notes, we ever find 
tome pregnant sentences. 

On the 13th of November, 1649, Cromwell was at Ross, 
in the very midst of the war. He had been ill; but he still 
thought of his son, and never did parent more earnestly de¬ 
sire to see his child giving his whole heart to God. He 
wrote thus to Mr. Mayor :—“ I have been crazy in my health • 
but the Lord is pleased to sustain me. I beg your prayers. 
I desire you to call upon my son to mind the things of God 
more and more: alas, what profit is there in the things of 
this world ?—except they be enjoyed in Christ, they are 
snares. I wish he may enjoy his wife so, and she him ; I 
wish I may enjoy them both so.” 

Somewhat later Oliver was filled with pleasure. During 
the winter he had received letters from his son, which led 
him to believe that Richard was beginning to set his affec¬ 
tions on heavenly things. On the 2d of April, 1650, the 
Lord-lieutenant wrote to Mr. Mayor from Carrick :—“I have 
committed my son to you ; I pray counsel him. Some let¬ 
ters I have lately had from him have a good savor: the 
Lord treasure up grace there, that out of that treasury 
he may bring forth good things.” 

But it was to his son in particular that the Christian fatliei 
felt impelled to write. The same- messenger conveyed the 
following letter to Richard :— 


IRELAND. 


119 


u For my beloved Son, Richard Cromwell, Esquire, at I/urs - 

Icy in Hampshire : These. 


“ Carrick, 2d April, 1G50. 


“ Dick Cromwell. 

“ I take your letters kindly : I like expressions when they 
come plainly from the heart, and are. not strained nor 
affected. 

“ I am persuaded it’s the Lord’s mercy to place you where 
you are: I wish you may own it and be thankful, fulfilling 
all relations to the glory of God. Seek the Lord and His 
face continually :—let this be the business of your life and 
strength; and let all things be subservient and in order to 
this ! You cannot find nor behold the face of God but in 
Christ; therefore labor to know God in Christ; which the 
Scripture makes to be the sum of all, even Life Eternal 
Because the true knowledge is not literal or speculative ; no, 
but inward, transforming the mind to it. It’s uniting to, and 
participating of, the Divine Nature. (2 Peter i. 4): ‘ That 
by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature, having 
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’ 
It’s such a knowledge as Paul speaks of ( Philippians iii. 8-10:) 
‘ Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the ex¬ 
cellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for 
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count 
them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, 
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but 
that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness 
which is of God by faith: that I may know Him and the 
power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffer¬ 
ings, beinof made conformable unto His death.’ How Little 
of this knowledge is among us ! My weak prayers shall be 
for you. 

“ Take heed of an unactive vain spirit! Recreate your¬ 
self with Sir Walter Raleigh’s history: it’s a body of history; 
and will add much more to your understanding than frag- 


120 


IRELAND. 


ments of story. Intend (i. e. endeavor) to understand tlic 
Estate I have settled : it’s your concernment to know it all, 
and how it stands. I have therefore suffered much by too 
much trusting to others. I know my brother Mayor will be 
helpful to you in all this. 

“ You will think, perhaps, I need not advise you to love 
your wife ! The Lord teach you how to do it;—or else it 
will be done ill-favoredly. Though marriage be no instituted 
sacrament, yet where the undefiled bed is, and love, this 
union aptly resembles that of Christ and His Church. If 
you can truly love your wife, what love doth Christ bear to 
His Church and every poor soul therein,—who ‘ gave Him¬ 
self’ for it and to it!.Commend me to your wife; tell 

her I entirely love her, and rejoice in the goodness of the 
Lord to her. I wish her every way fruitful. I thank her 
for her loving letter. 

“I have presented my love to my sister and cousin Ann, 
&c., in my letter to my Brother Mayor. I would not have 
him alter his affairs because of my debt. My purse is as 
his: my present thoughts are but to lodge such a sum for 
my two little girls ;—it’s in his hand as well as anywhere. 
I shall not be wanting to accommodate him to his mind ; I 
would not have him solicitous.—Dick, the Lord bless you 
every way. I rest Your loving Father, 

“Oliver Cromwell.”'* 

In July (1C50) Cromwell, after his return from Ireland, 
was on his way to Scotland. His daughter-in-law had given 
birth to a son, and in these terms he addressed her father. 

“ For my very loving Brother, Richard Mayor , Enquire, 
at his house at Hursley: These. 

Alnwick, 17th July, 1G50. 

“ Dear Brother, 

“ The exceeding crowd of business I had at London is the 

* Memoirs of the Protector, by O. Cromwell,^ 369. London, 1822, 
Carlyle ii. 169. 



IRELAND. 


121 


best excuse I can make for my silence in this way. Indeed, 
Sir, my heart beareth me witness I w T ant no affection to you 
or yours; you are all often in my poor prayers. 

“ I should be glad to hear how the little Brat doth. I 
could chide both father and mother for their neglects of me: 
I know my son is idle, but I had better thoughts of Doll. 
I doubt now her husband hath spoiled her; pray tell her so 
from me. If I had as good leisure as they, I should write 
sometimes. If my daughter be breeding, I will excuse her; 
but not for her nursery! The lord bless them. I hope you 
give my son good counsel; I believe he needs it. He is in 
the dangerous time of his age ; and it’s a very vain world. 
O how good it is to close with Christ betimes; there is 
nothing else -worth the looking after. I beseech you cal. 
upon him,—I hope you will discharge my duty and your 
own love ; you see how I am employed. I need pity. I 
know what I feel. Great place and business in the world is 
not worth the looking after ; I should have no comfort in 
mine but that my hope is in the Lord’s presence. I have 
not sought these things ; truly I have been called unto them 
by the Lord; and therefore am not without some assurance 
that He will enable His poor worm and weak servant to do 
His will and to fulfil my generation. In this I desire your 
prayers. Desiring to be lovingly remembered to my dear 
sister, to our son and daughter, to my cousin Ann and the 

good family, I rest 

“ Your very affectionate brother, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

Such was Cromwell as a father,—a model of parent?. 
Was he the same in public affairs ? 

In these days he will be severely reproached for his intol¬ 
erance of Popery in Ireland. “ I shall not suffer the exer¬ 
cise of the mass,” he said. Let us examine the matter seri. 

ously. 

* Harris, p. 513. Carlyle, ii. 177. 

1 1 


IRELAND. 


1 OO 

J 

If Cromwell had truly at heart the prosperity of Ireland, 
it is evident that he must have desired to see that country 
renounce the mass and the pope. 

Nothing can be more superficial, nothing more false, than 
those opinions so prevalent on the Continent, and even in the 
British isles, which ascribe all the misery of Ireland to the 
absenteeism of the great gentry, to the conduct of the Eng¬ 
lish government, and to other causes of a similar nature. 
We may admit that these circumstances have exerted a cer¬ 
tain influence on the condition of this unhappy people; but 
the true source of the evil must be looked for elsewhere. 
Can we see the difference which exists between episcopalian 
England, presbyterian Scotland, and popish Ireland, and not 
immediately perceive the origin of the woes of the last 
named country? Or will it be pretended that the Irish 
people are of a race inferior to others ? 

The influence of religions is immense. Godliness is profit 
table unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, 
and of that which is to come. It is the priests who have made 
the Irish what they are; or rather it is a degrading religion 
which has debased alike priest and people;—a gross super¬ 
stition, a corrupt system of morals, ideas false and out of 
date, which have robbed this nation of its energy, and engen¬ 
dered in it carelessness, imprudence, and misery. Priests, 
degraded by error, have themselves degraded their poor 
flocks. We would say nothing to diminish the responsibil¬ 
ity of England and of her government; she is great in every 
way ; but all impartial judges must acknowledge, that it is 
from the seven-hilled city whence flow those torrents which 
have inundated this interesting and unhappy nation with 
ignorance, superstition, servility, and wretchedness, with 
humiliation, famine, pestilence, and death. The papacy, Iv 
vitiating the revelations of Christianity, by establishing again 
in the world a sacerdotal caste, which it was the object of 
the Gospel to abolish everywhere, by retarding the nations 
wherever she was dominant, and by keeping them in all 


IRELAND. 


128 


respects in the rear of the others,—will have to answei 
before God and man for the poverty and sufferings she has 
entailed on an island, which, before it was subjected to the 
pope, was at the head of all Christian countries, and which 
is now, alas ! at the lowest step in the scale. 

The Oratorians,* charmed, it would seem, by the fruits 
which the waters of Popery have produced in Ireland, have 
formed the pious design of introducing them into England. 
They are digging at the foot of the Quirinal Hill to draw 
from the bowels of the earth the bitter water that causeth a 
curse, and their friends in England are as earnestly engaged 
in making the canals and reservoirs for its reception. The 
special danger of their exertions consists in this : the 'work¬ 
men have been brought up in the midst of Protestantism, 
wdiose light and strength they are now turning against it, 
If it were merely a question of some few dirty and ignorant 
monks, such as Rome manufactures in Italy, Spain, Portu¬ 
gal, and elsew r here, there would be no cause for fear. But 
these vermin will not creep in until later, to eat into the tree 
aud destroy its fruits. The fashionable Oratorians have the 
task of clearing the way for them. If the state and tin 
church envy England the condition of Ireland, let then, 
hasten to give their aid to this noble project, conceived at 
Oxford, carrying on at Rome, and which will soon be in ex 
ecution throughout England. But if the misery of Ireland, 
if its dead and living corpses, fill their hearts with sorrow 
and alarm ; then let church and state act energetically, each 
In its own sphere, and let them labor earnestly in building 
dikes to stop the water that cometh by the way of Edom, wata 
as red as blood. A question ol suicide is now pending i> 
England. 

The condition of other nations confirms these sad prog 
nostications. Portugal, Spain, and Italy are sunk by thei 
clergy into the mire from which they cannot extricate them¬ 
selves. France would be in the same state, if it had not 

* Mr. Newman and his friends. 


124 


IRELAND. 


always preserved a Protestant element, which foi some time 
was predominant,' and which has never entirely perished. 
And if we desire to see -what Popery makes nations in these 
days, we have only to cast our eyes on Belgium, which next 
to Ireland is the most popish country in Europe. We shall 
find there a fertile soil, a land offering immense resources, 
and a people once at the head of European manufactures 
and commerce, but of whom the fourth part is now reduced 
to mendicancy and is dying of hunger. Will it be said that 
here, as in England, the government is in fault ? Impossi¬ 
ble ! for the Belgian government since 1831 has been the 
most catholic in Europe. In consequence of the prevalence 
of jesuitism in that kingdom, subsequent to the Revolution, 
the number of priests has been augmented by 2600. More 
than 400 convents have been opened, whence issue in all di¬ 
rections Franciscan friars, capuchins, and other sluggards of 
the same brood (we are not aware if there are any Orato- 
rians); and these priests and monks have invaded everything, 
enslaved everything. 

The result soon appeared: Belgian pauperism has taken 
its place at the side of Irish pauperism ; and in Belgium its 
intensity is in direct proportion to that of Popery. The 
wretchedness is far more aggravated in the Flemish prov¬ 
inces, which are entirely subject to the priests, than in the 
Walloon (French) provinces, which Avere once Protestant, 
and whose spirit is nearer that of Protestantism. “ Such,” 
says a correspondent,* “ is the state to which Belgium has 
been reduced by the clerical party in less than fifteen years.” 

If therefore Oliver Cromwell loved Ireland, if he desired 
its happiness and prosperity, he must have wished above all 
things to see Popery and the mass disappear, and to behold 
the establishment of evangelical Christianity and of the 
Bible. But if his end was good, were the means he em¬ 
ployed good also ? Not altogether/ Speaking to the lead¬ 
ers of the popish clergy, he said to them:—“ If you come 
* In the Pans Journal, Le National. 


IRELAND. 


12* 


into my hands, I shall cause to be inflicted the punishment# 
appointed by the laws on you.” If this w r as the way oi 
proceeding in Cromwell’s time, it is no longer so in ours. 

As the Gospel is the only means of saving Ireland, how 
then can w r e impart to its wretched inhabitants this infallible 
remedy ? 

In the first place, let there be no attempt to introduce 
either a clerical and traditional religion, or a rationalist and 
Unitarian system. What we must give them is the Gospel, 
nothing but the Gospel, the entire Gospel. Fashionable 
people may amuse themselves in their drawing-rooms and 
boudoirs w r ith Puseyite or Socinian notions; but a nation re¬ 
quires positive and living elements. Christianity in all its 
simplicity, with all its richness and its strength, can alone 
save from this mortal sickness. 

If truth is the first means, Christian love is the second. 
Charity never faileth : its effect is sure, it is a living word 
which shall never fall unto the earth. To preserve Ireland, 
there must be a great manifestation of the spirit of truth in 
the fruits of Christian love. 

I will add, however, a third means. A respectable eccle¬ 
siastical form is necessary to encourage the poor Catholics, 
whom the calumnies of their priests perpetually alarm with 
the disunion and disorder of Protestant sects. In their house 
of bondage, they have contracted certain wants which ought 
to be respected. The two Protestant churches, which are 
the most numerous in Ireland, the Episcopalian and the Pres¬ 
byterian, present all that can be desired ; but let them be 
circumspect, and walk together in harmony. 

Another question here occurs: To gain the Irish people, 
must we not first pu x . out of sight that which offends them, 
break the bonds whUh unite the Episc opalian church to the 
state, and by giving the former powerful community more 
dberty, give it also greater energy and life ? 

An eminent minister of the Church of England has do¬ 
ll* 


126 


IRELAND. 


quently explained his views on this point.* I can give no 
decided opinion on the question, as I have not before me all 
the necessary elements. But it is evident, on the one hand, 
that the more Protestantism shall appear in that country with¬ 
out those privileges which shock and repel the Irish people, 
the more, on the other hand, it will be able (as it ought) to 
act with freedom and with life, and the nearer also will be 
Ireland's conversion. We should learn how to sacrifice what¬ 
ever becomes unnecessarily a stumbling-block to our breth¬ 
ren. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it 
from thee. Jesus Christ should be set before this people ; 
but He should be without arms, without privileges, poor, 
meek, and loivly of heart. 

In these thoughts we approximate to the ideas recently 
enunciated in connection with Ireland by one of the most es¬ 
timable Christians and public men in England. “ I will call 
upon you, deserted as you may have been by men of first 
rate in the hierarchy and in the state, to look, under God’s 

blessing, to your own exertions only.I believe that 

wherever good is done on a Christian principle, the blessing 
of the prophet will be found to be realized almost literally j 
the barrel of meal will never fail, and the cruse will never be 
exhausted, if there be a blessing from on high.”f We co¬ 
incide wdth the worthy baronet’s sentiments ; we think that 
we may go still farther, and that if it were clearly estab¬ 
lished that the cause of evangelical Protestantism in Ireland 
has been abandoned by the state, then our own exertions 
would, under God's blessing, have far more strength and ef¬ 
ficiency. Faith which worketh by love has power in spiritual 
things only. 

Such' thoughts as these were not altogether foreign to 
Cromwell. Although he desired to have recourse to the 

* The Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, in his Letter to the Bishop of 
Cashel. // 

t Sir Robert Inglis, Speech at the Annual Meeting of the London 
Hibernian Society,. 18th May, 1847. 



IRELAND. 


127 


law against the chiefs of Popery, he was willing to behave 
very differently towards the people. We cannot forbear 
transcribing once more those noble words of his., which are 
worthy of being repeated by the Crown of England in the 
nineteenth century :—“ As for the people, what thoughts 
they have in matters of religion in their own breasts I can¬ 
not reach; but shall think it my duty, if they walk honestly 
and peaceably, not to cause them in the least to suffer for 
the same. And shall endeavor to walk patiently and in love 
towards them, to see if at any time it shall please God to 
give them another or a better mind. And all men under 
the power of England, within this dominion, are hereby re¬ 
quired and enjoined strictly and religiously to do the same.” 

This is the remedy. “ Be wise now', therefore, 0 ye 
kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth.” (Is. ii. 10.) 
Let the ministers and parliament of England do all that is 
possible for them to do, and even more, to alleviate the mis¬ 
ery of the sister country. God and Europe will demand an 
account of them. But for what is not in their pow r er they 
will never be called to a reckoning:. So long: as her friends 
look to governmental measures only for a remedy adapted to 
heal the wounds of this people, Ireland will always be that 
“ certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 
and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had 
spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather 
grew worse.” (Mark v. 25, 26.) One means alone can 
save her, as it saved this woman; and that will be, as soon 
as she shall have heard of Jesus and touched his garment. 
Then, after Popery has disappeared from her unhappy soil, 
she will feel in her body that she is healed of that plague. 

Cromwell returned to London in the month of May, and 
was received by the Parliament and people “ as a soldier who 
had gained more laurels, and done more wonders in nine 
tenths, than any age or history could parallel.”* 

* Neale, History of the Puritans, ii. 554. London, 1837 


SCOTLAND. 






Two Kings and two Loyalties—Charles II. in Scotland—CromwelFa 
Letter to the General Assembly and to the Scotch Commander in 
Chief—Battle of Dunbar—Dispatch to Parliament—The Edinburgh 
Preachers in the Castle—Cromwell’s Letter—All Christians ought to 
preach Christ—The Malignants —Cromwell’s Illness—Two Letters— 
Cromwell concerning his son Richard—Worcester—Prosperity of 
Scotland—Cromwell’s Military Career—Two Symbols. 

The Scots had begun the great movement whose object 
was at once to resist the tyranny of the Stuarts and the 
tyranny of Rome, and which was destined to result in incal¬ 
culable consequences for Europe. But now they retraced 
their steps, and put themselves in opposition to the Com¬ 
monwealth of England. They wanted a leader. “ With 
Oliver Cromwell born a Scotchman,” sa}^s Carlyle; “ with a 
Hero King and a unanimous Hero Nation at his back, it 
might have been far otherwise. With Oliver born Scotch, 
one sees not but the whole world might have become 
Puritan.”* 

Without shutting our eyes to the truth there may be in 
Jiis passage, we find the cause of this northern war else¬ 
where. In spiritual things the Scots acknowledged Jesus 
Christ as their king; in temporal, they recognized Charles 
the Second. They had no wish that the latter should usurj- 
the kingdom of the former; but they also had no desire tha< 
Cromwell should seize upon the Stuarts* throne. They pos¬ 
sessed a double loyalty—one towards the heavenly king, ant 
* Letters and Speeches, ii. 1G9. 


SCOTLAND. 


129 


another to their earthly sovereign. They had cast off the 
abuses of the latter, but not the monarchy itself. They ac¬ 
cordingly invited the prince, who was then in Holland, to 
come to Scotland, and take possession of his kingdom. We 
may believe that this was a great fault and a great misfor¬ 
tune : we may regret that loyal men should have carried 
their fidelity so far as to bring the youthful monarch from 
the midst of the debaucheries in which he was indulging at 
Breda, to replace him on the throne of his fathers. This 
rendered a second revolution necessary: and yet we cannot 
forbear respecting the Scots even in this their error. 

Charles at this time was conniving at Montrose, who was 
spreading desolation throughout Scotland ; and the young 
king hoped by his means to recover a throne without having 
to take upon himself any embarrassing engagement. But 
when the marquis was defeated, he determined to surrender 
to the Scottish parliament. One circumstance had nearly 
caused his ruin. Among Montrose’s papers was found a 
commission from the king, giving him authority to levy troops 
and subdue the country by force of arms. The indignant 
parliament immediately recalled their commissioners from 
Holland ; but the individual to whom the order was ad¬ 
dressed treacherously concealed the document from his col¬ 
leagues, and by showing it to none but the prince, gave him 
to understand that he could no longer safely temporize. 
Charles being thus convinced hurried on board, and set sail 
for Scotland, attended by a train of unprincipled men. The 
most serious thinkers in the nation saw that they could 
expect little else from him than duplicity, treachery, and 
licentiousness. It has been said that the Scotch compelled 
Charles to adopt their detested Covenant voluntarily. Most 
certainly the political leaders cannot be entirely exculpated 
of this charge ; but it was not so with the religious part of 
the government. When he declared his readiness to sign 
that deed on board the ship, even before he landed, Livings¬ 
ton, who do bted his sincerity, begged him to wait until he 


130 


SCOTLAND. 


had reached Scotland, and given satisfactory proofs of his 
good faith. But it was all to no effect; and when again, at 
Dunfermline, Charles wished to append his signature to a 
new declaration, by which he renounced popery and episco¬ 
pacy, and asserted that he had nc other enemies than those 
of the Covenant, the Rev. Patrick Gillespie said to him : 
u Sire, unless in your soul and conscience you are satisfied, 
beyond all hesitation, of the righteousness of this declaration, 
do not subscribe it: no, do not subscribe it, not for the three 
kingdoms.” “ Mr. Gillespie, Mr. Gillespie,” replied the 

king, “ I am satisfied, I am satisfied;.and therefore 

will subscribe.”* 

If Charles Stuart had thought of ascending his native 
throne only, Cromwell and the English would have remained 
quiet; but he aimed at the recovery of the three kingdoms, 
and the Scotch were disposed to aid him. Oliver imme¬ 
diately saw the magnitude of the danger which threatened 
the religion, liberty, and morals of England, and did not 
hesitate. 

On the 2Gth of June, 1650, he was appointed commander- 
in-chief of all the armies of the Commonwealth, and set out 
immediately. 

Cromwell’s feelings, as he marched against Scotland, were 
different from those which had led him to Ireland. To him 
the people were brethren—brethren who had gone astray 
when they invited over the licentious Charles II. That coun¬ 
try was afterwards to feel, by twenty-eight years of hor¬ 
rible persecution (from 1660 to 1688), that the Protector 
was not deceived. Oliver determined to do all in his power 
to restore Scotland to herself. 

It was Cromwell’s belief that, if sin had divided men and 
nations against one another, the aim of Christianity was to 
bring together all the families of the earth, and establish 
unity among them. He thought that $ie Gospel, by sancti- 

* Hetherington, History of the Church of Scotia; d, 117. Edin¬ 
burgh, 1813. 



SCOTLAND. 


131 


tying the people, would make them one vast community of 
brethren. Wherever he saw disciples of Christ, there his 
heart beat for them. It was therefore a remarkable and a 
sorrowful spectacle which might then be viewed on the bor¬ 
ders of Scotland,—one Christian army advancing- against 
another Christian army ! This sight, no doubt, has been too 
often witnessed in history. But in most cases the troops 
which march against each other are Christian only in name, 
while the two forces of Scotland and of England possessed, 
to speak generally, both the spirit and the reality of Chris¬ 
tianity. 

This was a misfortune. Cromwell remembered that 
although a Christian may be sometimes summoned to war, 
he should at least cast aside all hatred, and ever be inclined 
towards peace. He sent letters accordingly both to the 
general assembly and to the commander-in-chief: to the 
latter of whom he wrote as follows :— 


“For the Right Honorable David Lesley, Lieutenant-general 
of the Scots Army: These. 


“ From the Camp at Pentland Hills, 
14th August, 1650. 


“ Sir, 

I received yours of the 13th instant, with the paper you 
mentioned therein, inclosed,—which I caused to be read in 
the presence of so many officers as could well be gotten to¬ 
gether ; to which your Trumpet can witness. We return 
you this answer; by which I hope, in the Lord, it will ap¬ 
pear that we continue the same we have professed ourselves 
to the Honest People in Scotlandwishing to them as to 
our own souls; it being no part of our business to hinder 
any of them from worshipping God in that way they are 
satisfied in their consciences by the Word of God they 
ought, though different from us. 

“ But that under the pretence of the Covenant, mistaken, 
and wrested from the most native intent and equity thereof. 


182 


SCOTLAND. 


a King should be taken in by you, to be imposed upon us; 
and this be called ‘ the cause of God and the kingdom 
and this done upon ‘ the satisfaction of God’s people in both 
nations,’ as is alleged,—together with a disowning ot Ma- 
lignants ; although he [Charles Stuart] who is the head of 
them, in whom all their hope and comfort lies, be received ; 
who, at this very instant, hath a Popish army fighting for 
and under him in Ireland; hath Prince Rupert, a man who 
hath had his hand deep in the blood of many innocent men 
of England, now in the head of our ships, stolen from us 
upon a Malignant account; hath the French and Irish ships 
daily making depredations on our coasts; and strong com¬ 
binations by the Malignants in England, to raise armies in 
our bowels, by virtue of his commissions, who hath of late 
issued out very many to that purpose:—How the Godly in¬ 
terest you pretend you have received him upon, and the 
Malignant interests in their ends and consequences all center¬ 
ing in this man, can be secured, we cannot discern. 

“ And how we should believe, that whilst known and no¬ 
torious Malignants are fighting and plotting against us on the 
one hand, and you declaring for him on the other, it should 
not be an * espousing of a Malignant party’s Quarrel or In¬ 
terest ;’ but be a mere ‘ fighting upon former grounds and 
principles, and in defence of the cause of God and the king¬ 
doms, as hath been these twelve years last past/ as you 
say : how this should be ‘ for the security and satisfaction of 
God’s people in both nations / or how the opposing of this 
should render us enemies to the Godly with you, we cannot 
well understand. 

“And if our hope be not in the Lord, it will be ill with us. 
We commit both you and ourselves to Him who knows the 
heart, and tries the reins; with whom are all our ways; 
who is able to do for us and you above what we know : 
which we desire may be in much mercy/to His poor people, 
and to the glory of His great name. 

“ And having performed your desire, in making your pa- 



SCOTLAND 


133 


pers so public, as is before expressed, I desire you to do the 
like, by letting the State, Kirk, and Army have the knowl¬ 
edge hereof. To which end I have sent you inclosed two 
copies of this letter; and rest 

“ Your humble servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

It was not until after great trials—until .after the destiuc- 
tion of the constitution of the church, and the slavery of the 
people—until the blood of numerous martyrs had beer 
poured forth like water, that Scotland understood the truth 
of Cromwell’s words. 

The Scots marched against the English army. Cromwell 
at first retreated before them; but seizing the opportunity 
when they had quitted a favorable position, he attacked them 
at Dunbar on the 3d of September. This was one of Crom¬ 
well’s most important victories. It placed Scotland at his 
feet. The Scots’ word was The Covenant; Cromwell’s, 
The Lord of Hosts. He took 10,000 prisoners, besides 
officers. His heart w r as filled with gratitude towards God ; 
but even while at the head of the army, Oliver did not lose 
sight of the civil order and prosperity of England :f— 

“ Thus you have the prospect of one of the most signal 
mercies God hath done for England and his people,” said 
the commander-in-cliief in his dispatch to Parliament. “ By 
thjsc eminent mercies, God puts it more into your hands, to 
give glory to him. We that serve you, beg of you not to 
own us—but God alone. We pray you, own his people 
more and more ; for they are the chariots and horsemen of 
Israel. Disown yourselves ;—but own your authority ; and 
improve it to curb the proud and the insolent, such as would 
disturb the tranquillity of England, though under what spe¬ 
cious pretences soever. Relieve the oppressed, hear the 
groans of poor prisoners in England. Be pleased to reform 

* Newspapers, Pari. H. xix. 331. Carlyle, ii. 191-193. 
f Newspapers in Cromwelliana, p. 87. Carlyle, ii. 217. 

12 


134 


SCOTLAND. 


the abuses of all prolessions :—and if there be any one that 
makes many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a Com¬ 
monwealth. [Oliver here glances at the lawyers.] If He 
that strengthens your servants to fight, please to give your 
hearts to set upon these things, in order to His glory, and 
the glory of your Commonwealth,—then, besides the bene¬ 
fit England shall feel thereby, you shall shine forth to other 
Nations, who shall emulate the glory of such a pattern, and 
through the power of God turn into the like. 

“ These are our desires. And that you may have liberty 
and opportunity to do these things, and not be hindered, we 
have been and shall be (by God’s assistance) willing to ven¬ 
ture our lives. 

“ Since we came in Scotland, it hath been our desire and 
longing to have avoided blood in this business; by reason 
that God hath a people here fearing His name, though de¬ 
ceived. And to that end have we offered much love unto 
such, in the bowels of Christ; and concerning the truth of 
our hearts therein, have we appealed unto the Lord. The 
Ministers of Scotland have hindered the passage of these 
things to the hearts of those to whom we intended them. 
And now we hear, that not only the deceived people, but 
some of the Ministers are also fallen in this battle. This is 
the great hand of the Lord, and "worthy of the consideration 
of all those who take into their hands the instruments of a 
foolish shepherd,—to wit, meddling with worldly policies, 
and mixtures of earthly power, to set up that which tney 
call the kingdom of Christ, and neglect, or trust not to, the 
Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit; which is alone 

powerful and able for the setting up of that Kingdom. 

Oh, that they might return again to preach Jesus Christ, 
according to the simplicity of the Gospel;—and then no 
doubt they will discern and find your protection and encour¬ 
agement. / 

“ Your most obedient servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 



SCOTLAND. 


135 


One of the general’s proclamations issued on the field of 
battle breathes such humanity towards the Scots, that it de« 
serves to be introduced here :—* 

“ PROCLAMATION. 

“ Forasmuch, as I understand there are several soldiers 
of the enemy’s army yet abiding in the field, who by reason 
of their wounds could not march from thence : 

“ These are therefore to give notice to the inhabitants of 
iliis nation, That they may have, and hereby have, free lib¬ 
erty to repair to the field aforesaid ; and, with their carts or 
in any other peaceable way, to carry away the said soldiers 
to such places as they shall think fit:—provided they med¬ 
dle not with, or take away, any of the arms there. And all 
officers and soldiers are to take notice that the same is per¬ 
mitted. 

“ Given under my hand, at Dunbar, 4th September, 1650. 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 

The same day Cromwell wrote to his son-in-law Ireton, 
whom he had left as deputy-lieutenant in Ireland.f This 
letter also proves Cromwell’s affection for the Scotch. 


“To Lieutenant-general Ireton , Deputy-lieutenant of Ireland 

These. 


u Dunbar, 4th September, 1650. 

“ Sir, 

“ Though I hear not often from you, yet I know you for¬ 
get me not. Think so of me too ; for I often remember you 
at the Throne of Grace. I heard of the Lord’s good hand 
with you in reducing Waterford, Duncannon and Carlow : 
His name be praised. 


* Carlyle, ii. 209. 

f 'lusscll’s Cromwell, vol. xlvii. of Constable’s Mis elJany, 317. Car* 
lyle, ii 255. 


136 


SCOTLAND. 


“ We have been engaged upon a sendee the fullest of trial 
ever poor creatures were upon. We made great professions 
of love; knowing we were to deal with many who ■were 
godly, and who pretended to be stumbled at our invasion: 
indeed our bowels were pierced again and again; the Lord 
helped us to sweet words, and in sincerity to mean them. 
We were rejected again and again; yet still we begged to be 
believed that we loved them as our own souls ; they often 
returned evil for good. We prayed for security [against 
Charles Stuart’s designs upon England] : they -would not 
hear or answer a word to that. We made often appeals to 
God ; they appealed also. We -were near engagements three 
or four times, but they lay upon advantages. A heavy flux 
fell upon our army; brought it very low, from fourteen to 
eleven thousand: three thousand five hundred horse, and 
seven thousand five hundred foot, the enemy sixteen thou¬ 
sand foot, and six thousand horse.” 

On the same day, the morrow after the battle, Cromwell 
wrote to his vdfe. His letter is brief, but full of piety and 
affection:— 


“For my beloved Wife, Elizabeth Cromwell, at the CocJcjnt * 

These. 

“ Dunbar, 4th September, 1650. 

“ My Dearest, 

“ I have not leisure to write much. But I could chide 
thee that in many of thy letters thou writest to me, that I 
should not be unmindful of thee and thy little ones. Truly, 
if I love you not too well, I think I err not on the other hand 
much. Thou art dearer to me than any creature ; let that 
suffice. 

* The Cockpit was then and long a$£rwards a sumptuous royai 
lodging in Whitehall; Henry the Eighth’s place of cock-figh'ing. 
Cromwell’s fam : ' jr removed thither, by vo'e of the Commons, diring 
the Irish camp gn. The present Privy-council office is built on ts site. 


SCOTLAND. 


137 


'* The Lord had showed us an exceeding mercy ;—who can 
tell how it is ! My weak faith hath been upheld. I have 
been in my inward man marvellously supported;—though I 
assure thee, I grow an old man, and feel infirmities of age 
marvellously stealing upon me. Would my corruptions did 
as fast decrease ! Pray on my behalf in the latter respect. 
The particulars of our late success, Harry Vane or Gilbert 
Pickering will impart to thee. My love to all dear friends. 
I rest thine, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.”* 

The Protector now advanced to Edinburgh. Part of the 
Scotch army had retired into the castle built on the precipi¬ 
tous rocks which rise in the midst of that beautiful city. 
The ministers of the town also had taken refuge in the same 
fortress. Cromwell immediately informed the governor that 
he would permit the pastors to come down and preach in their 
respective churches, without being in any manner disquieted 
The ministers replied that they were fearful of persecution, 
and could not accept his offer. The following is his answer:—f 


“ For the Honorable the Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh: 

These. 


“ Edinburgh, 9th September, 1650. 


“ Sir, 

“ The kindness offered to the ministers with you was done 
with ingenuity [ingenuously], thinking it might have met 
with the like. If their Master’s service (as they call it) were 
chiefly in their eye, imagination of suffering would not have 
caused such a return. 

“ The ministers in England are supported, and have liberty 
to preach the Gospel; though not to rail, nor, under pre¬ 
tence thereof, to overtop the Civil Power, or debase it as 
they please. No man hath been troubled in England or 


* Carlyle, ii. 223. 
f Thurloe, i. 159. Carlyle, ii. 232. 
12 * 


L *38 


SCOTLAND. 


Ireland for preaching the Gospel; nor has any minister been 
molested in See tland since the coming of the army hither. 
The speaking truth becomes the ministers of Christ. When 
ministers pretend to a glorious Reformation, and lay the 
foundations thereof in getting to themselves worldly power, 
they may know that the Sion promised will not be built with 
such untempered mortar. 

“ I have nothing to say to you but that I am. 

“ Sir, 

“ Your humble servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 

“ The Scotch clergy,” says Carlyle, “ never got such a 
reprimand since they first took ordination.” 

On the 12th of September, Cromwell sent another letter 
to the governor,* to refute the complaints made by the in¬ 
habitants, and particularly by the ministers. 

“ You say,” writes Oliver, “you regret that men of civil 
employments should usurp the calling and employment of 
the ministry ; to the scandal of the Reformed Kirks.—Are 
you troubled that Christ is preached ? Is preaching so ex¬ 
clusively your function? Doth it scandalize the Reformed 
Kirks, and Scotland in particular ? Is it against the Cove¬ 
nant ? Away with the Covenant, if this be so ! I thought 
the Covenant and these professors of it could have been wil¬ 
ling that any should speak good of the name of Christ: if 
not, it is no Covenant of God’s approving; nor are these 
Kirks you mention in so much the spouse of Christ. 

“ Where do you find in the Scripture a ground to warrant 
such an assertion, that preaching is exclusively your function ? 
I hope He that ascended up on high may give His gifts to 
whom He pleases : and if those gifts be the seal of Mission, 
be not envious though Eldad and Med ad prophecy (Numbers 
xi. 27). You know who bids us covet earnestly the best gifts , 
but chiefly that we may prophesy; which the Apostle ex- 
♦ Thurloe, i. 158. Carlyle, ii. 236. 



SCOTLAND. 


130 


plains there to be a speaking to instruction and edification 
and comfort. 

"‘Indeed you err through mistaking of the Scriptures. 
Approbation \i. c. ordination, solemn approbation and ap¬ 
pointment by men] is an act of conveniency in respect of 
order; not of necessity, to give faculty to preach the Gos¬ 
pel. Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like 
the man who would keep all the wine out of the country lest 
men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and un¬ 
wise jealousy, to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon a 
.supposition he may abuse it. When he doth abuse it, jude^e. 
If a man speak foolishly, ye suffer him gladly because ye are 
wise; if erroneously, the truth more appears by your con¬ 
viction of him. Stop such a man’s mouth by sound words 
which cannot be gainsaid. If he speak blasphemously, or to 
the disturbance of the public peace, let the civil magistrate 
punish him ; if truly, rejoice in the truth. And if you will 
call all our speakings together since we came into Scotland,— 
to provoke one another to love and good works, to faith in 
oui Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance from dead works; 
and to charity and love towards you, to pray and mourn for 
you, and for your bitter returns to our love of you, and your 
incredulity of our professions of love to you, of the truth of 
which we have made our solemn and humble appeals to the 
Lord our God, which He hath heard and borne witness to: 
if you will call (these) things scandalous to the Kirk, and 
against the Covenant, because done by men of civil callings,—- 

we rejoice in them, notwithstanding what you say. 

“ Your loving friend and servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 

It is impossible not to admire the just mean observed by 
Cromwell. He rejects alike the disorder of some who would 
have no ministry, and the bigotry of others who woul per¬ 
mit none but priests to proclaim Jesus Christ. He is here 
in advance of his age : he holds the balance between the 



140 


SCOTLAND. 


two extremes by which he is surrounded. In this day all 
enlightened Christians are of his opinion ; even the episcopa¬ 
lian church has its lav evangelists. 

The Edinburgh ministers persisted in their determination 
to remain in the castle. It was now resolved to excavate 
the immense rocks on which that fortress stands, and blow 
it into the air. While the miners from Derbyshire were 
toiling below, the ministers sat quietly above. On the 12th 
of December, Cromwell summoned the governor to surrender, 
and the latter after several parleys agreed to capitulate. 

The Protector made a distinction between the two parties 
he found in Scotland : on the one hand there were the Ma - 
Ugnants , the friends of Charles Stuart, as dissolute and 
popishly inclined as himself; on the other, the godly people 
of the nation, the true Presbyterians. The 4th of December 
he wrote on this subject to the speaker of the English par¬ 
liament.* 

“ I can assure you, that those that serve you here find 
more satisfaction in having to deal with men of this stamp 
[the Malignants] than with others ; and it is our comfort 
that the Lord hath “hitherto made it the matter of our 
prayers, and of our endeavors (if it might have been the 
will of God) to have had a Christian understanding between 

those that fear God in this land and ourselves. 

Those religious people of Scotland that fall in this cause, 
we cannot but pity and mourn for them ; and we pray that 
all good men may do so too. Indeed there is at this time a 
very great distraction, and mighty workings of God upon 
the hearts of divers, both ministers and people.” Cromwell 
was pleased with this agitation, hoping that it would lead to 
an understanding between the two kingdoms. 

Perhaps there never was a general at the head of an army, 
who entertained a more cordial affection towards his enemies. 
He had shown this at his very entrance into Scotland. The 
inhabitants of Dunbar being in great distress for want of 

• Newspaper Cromwelliana, p. 94. Carlyle, ii. 2G4. 



SCOTLAND. 


141 


provisions, lie distributed among them pease and wheat to 
the value of £240. 

Anxiety, severe labor, and a rigorous winter, seriously 
affected his health. During his sojourn in Edinburgh, where 
he was lodged in the sumptuous mansion of Earl Murray in 
the Canongate, he fell dangerously ill. He felt again that 
hand of God, which had weighed so heavily on him at St. 
Ives. He again experienced, as Augustin says,* that “ there 
are many deaths, and that the cause of all is sin.” He saw 
in this malady the chastening of God ; but in him this chas¬ 
tening bore a peaceable fruit of righteousness ; it revived in 
him the heavenly life. He was sensible that the Lord is 
nisdi unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such 
as be of a contrite spirit (Psalm xxxiv. 19.) Of this the 
next letter is a proof:— 


“ To the Right Honorable the Lord President of the Council 

of State: These. 

“ Edinburgh, 24th March, 1651. 

u Mr Lord, 

“ .Indeed, my Lord, your service needs not me : 

I am a poor creature; and have been a dry bone: and am 
still an unprofitable servant to my master and you. I thought 
I should have died of this fit of sickness; but the Lord 
seemeth to dispose otherwise. But truly, my Lord, I desire 
not to live, unless I may obtain mercy from the Lord to ap¬ 
prove my heart and life to Him in more faithfulness and 
thankfulness, and to those I serve in more profitableness and 
all diligence. And I pray God, your Lordship, and all in 
public trust, may approve all those unparalleled experiences 
of the Lord’s wonderful workings in your sight, with singleness 
of heart to His glory, and the refreshment of his people... 

Oliver Cromwell.”^ 


* De Civitate Dei, xiii. 12. 
f Newsp. Cromwelliana, 101. Carlyle, ii. 302. 



142 


SCOTLAND. 


This is truly the language of a convalescent Christian man. 
Shortly after this, he addressed the following letter to his 
wife. 


“ For my beloved Wife Elizabeth Cromwell, at the Cockpit: 

These. 


“ Edinburgh, 12th April, 1051. 


“ My Dearest, 

“ I praise the Lord I am increased in strength in my out¬ 
ward man : but that will not satisfy me except I get a heart 
to love and serve my Heavenly Father better; and get more 
of the light of His countenance, which is better than life, 
and more power over my corruptions:—in these hopes I 
wait, and am not without expectation of a gracious return. 
Pray for me ; truly I do daily for thee, and the dear Family ; 
and God Almighty bless you all with His spiritual blessings. 

“Mind poor Betty [Elizabeth Claypole] of the Lord’s 
great mercy. Oh, I desire her not only to seek the Lord in 
her necessity, but in deed and in truth to turn to the Lord ; 
and to keep close to him; and to take heed of a departing 
heart, and of being cozened with worldly vanities and 
worldly company, which I doubt she is too subject to. I 
earnestly and frequently pray for her and for him [her hus¬ 
band], Truly they are dear to me, very dear; and I am in 
fear lest Satan should deceive them;—knowing how weak 
our hearts are, and how subtle the adversary is. Let them 
seek Him in truth, and they shall find Him. 

“My love to the dear little ones; I pray for grace for 
them. I thank them for their letters ; let me have them 

often.Truly I am not able as yet to write much. I am 

weary; and rest 

“ Thine, 


“ Oliver Cromw'ell.”* 

\ 


The council of state had sent Cromwell two distinguished 

* Carlyle, ii. 303, 



SCOTLAND. 


143 


physicians, one of whom, Dr. Bates, although of a different 
party from his patient, has borne him honoiable testimony. 
Oliver thanked the council for their regard to “ so frail a 
thing as he was:” but the whole letter is worthy of being 
read. 


“ To the Lord President of the Council of State: These . 

“ Edinburgh, 3d June, 1651. 

“ My Lord, 

" I have received yours of the 27th of May, with an order 
from the Parliament for my liberty to return into England 
for change of air, that thereby I might the better recover 
my health. All which came unto me whilst Dr. Wright and 
Dr. Bates, whom your Lordship sent down, w T ere with me. 

“ I shall not need to recite the extremity of my last sick¬ 
ness : it was so violent that indeed my nature was not able 
to bear the 'weight thereof. But the Lord was pleased to 
deliver me, beyond expectation, and to give me cause to say 
once more, He hath plucked me out of the grave ! My Lord, 
the indulgence of the Parliament expressed by their order is 
a very high and undeserved favor: of which although it be 
fit I keep a thankful remembrance, yet I judge it would be 
too much presumption in me to return a particular acknowl¬ 
edgment. I beseech you give me the boldness to return my 
humble thankfulness to the Council for sending two such 
worthy persons so great a journey to visit me. From 
whom I have received much encouragement, and good direc¬ 
tions for recovery of health and strength,—which I find now, 
by the goodness of God, growing to such a state as may yet, 
if it be His good will, render me useful according to my pool 
ability in the station wherein He hath set me. 

“ I wish more steadiness in your affairs here than to de 
pend, in the least degree, upon so frail a thing as I am 
Indeed they do not,—nor own any instrument. This caust 
is of God, and it must prosper. Oh, that all that have any 
hand therein, being so persuaded, -would gird up the loins of 


144 


SCOTLAND. 


their mind, and endeavor in all things to walk worthy of the 
Lord! So prays, 

** My Loid, 

“ Y our most humble servant, 

"‘Oliver Cromwell.”' 

We have already remarked that the most striking feature 
in Cromwell, as unveiled to us by his correspondence, is his 
character as the head of a family. He possessed a tender¬ 
ness and wisdom most worthy of admiration. There are 
many other letters of this kind which we should like to 
quote, but we must refrain. We shall, however, give one 
more, in which he appears as a father, at onee firm, prudent, 
and enlightened.f 

Mr. Mayor, to whom the letter is addressed, was, it will 
be remembered, the father of his son Richard’s wife. Crom¬ 
well had sought this gentleman’s daughter for his son, pre¬ 
ferring her to other more brilliant matches, because her 
father and his family were religious people. He remained 
ever after attached to this pious man, and corresponded with 
him, as with a brother, in the most remarkable periods of 
his military career. 

“ To my very loving Brother , Richard Mayor , Esquire, ai 

Hursley: These. 

“ Burntisland, 28th July, 1652. 

“ Dear Brother, 

I was glad to receive a letter from you. I believe your 
expectation of my son’s coming is deferred. I wish he may 
see a happy delivery of his wife first, for whom I frequently 
pray. 

“ I hear my son hath exceeded his allowance, and is in 
debt. Truly I cannot commend him therein.I desire 

* Kimber’s Life of Oliver Cromwell (Lond. 1724), 201. Carlyle, ii. 
315. 

f Harris’ Life of Cromwil, 513. Carlyle, i;. 323. 



SCOTLAND. 


I4r» 

to be understood that I grudge him not laudable recreations, 
nor an honorable carriage of himself in them ; nor is any 
matter of charge, like to fall to my share, a stick [stop] with 
me. Truly I can find in my heart to allow him not only a 
sufficiency, but more, for his good. But if pleasure and 
self-satisfaction be made the business of a man’s life, and so 
much cost laid upon it, so much time spent in it, as rather 
answers appetite than the will of God,—I scruple to feed 
this humor; and God forbid that his being my son should 
bxi his allowance to live not pleasingly to our heavenly 
Father, who hath raised me out of the dust to be what I am. 

“I desire your faithfulness to advise him to approve him¬ 
self to the Lord in his course of life: and to search His 
• ' 

statutes for a rule to conscience, and to seek grace from 
Christ to enable him to walk* therein. This hath life in it, 
and will come to somewhat: what is a poor creature without 
this ? This will not abridge of lawful pleasures; but teach 
such a use of them as will have the peace of a good con¬ 
science going along with it. Sir, I write what is in my 
heart: I pray you communicate my mind herein to my son. 
Truly I love him; he is dear to me; so is his wife; and for 
their sakes do I thus write. They shall not want comfort 
nor encouragement from me, so far as I may afford it. But 
indeed I cannot think I do well to feed a voluptuous humor 
in my son, if he should make pleasures the business of his 
life,—in a time when some precious saints are bleeding, and 

breathing out their last for the safety of the rest.I desire 

your prayers; and rest 

“Your very affectionate brother and servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell . 1 ’ 

m 

During his stay at Glasgow, Cromwell attended divine 
worship in the Presbyterian churches. The Scottish minis¬ 
ters, preaching before this mighty and victorious general, did 
not hesitate to pray for the king and call Oliver a usurper. 
We do not find that he punished them in any way; on the 

IS 



146 


SCOTLAND. 


contrary, knowing very well that no confidence could be 
placed either in Charles Stuart or in his political party, he 
endeavored to form a connection with the religious body, as 
the only one with which a lasting peace could be made. 

Charles, seeing that his cause was ruined in Scotland, re¬ 
solved to march into England, in the hope that all the royal¬ 
ists in the north would rise at his approach; but he was 
i 'aoroughly defeated at Worcester, on the 3d of September, 
1051, on which day, twelve months before, Cromwell had 
gained the battle of Dunbar. 

The expedition being thus ended, Charles fled to France, 
and sought to forget his discomfiture in debauchery and dis¬ 
sipation. 

Cromwell’s dispatch bo Parliament* of this new victory 
terminates with the following passage :— 

“ The dimensions of this mercy are above my thoughts. 
It is, for aught I know, a crowning mercy. Surely, if it be 
not, such a one we shall have, if tkis provoke those that are 
concerned in it to thankfulness ; and the Parliament to do the 
will of Him who hath done His will for it and for the na¬ 
tion ;—whose good pleasure it is to establish the nation and 
the change of the government, by making the people so will¬ 
ing to the defence thereof, and so signally blessing the en¬ 
deavors of your servants in this late great work. I am bold 
humbly to beg, that all thoughts may tend to the promoting 
of His honor who hath wrought so great salvation; and that 
the fatness of these continued mercies may not occasion pride 
and wantonness, as formerly the like hath done to a chosen 
nation. \Jeshurun waxed fat , and kicked : and thou art waxen 
fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness: then 
he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock 
of his salvation. Dent, xxxii. 15.] But that the fear of the 
Lord, even for His mercies, may keep an authority and o 
people so prospered, and blessed, and witnessed unto, hum¬ 
ble and faithful; and that justice and righteousness, mere) 

* Cromwelliana, 113. Carlyle, ii. 339, 


SCOTLAND. 147 

and truth, may flow from you, as a thankful return to our 
gracious God. This shall be the prayer of, 

“ Sir, 

“ lour most humble and obedient servant, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 

Cromwell commissioned a number of the most godly men 
(Gillespie and some of his brethren) to arrange the affairs of 
the Scottish Church; and it was his desire that, in the elec¬ 
tion of pastors, they should have regard to the choice of the 
most religious portion of the flock, although these should not 
constitute the majority. 

Dr. Hetherington, the historian of the Scottish Church, 
bears the following testimony to Oliver’s policy : “ Through¬ 
out the whole of Scotland, during the period of Cromwell’s 
domination, there prevailed a degree of civil peace beyond 
what had almost ever before been experienced.”* 

An old historian, Kirkton, speaks thus of the religious 
condition of Scotland :—“ I verily believe there were more 
souls converted to Christ in that short period of time, than 
in any season since the Reformation, though of triple its 
duration.”—Such are the testimonies of two native writers. 

Thus the result of Cromwell’s campaigns both in Ireland 
and in Scotland was the peace and prosperity of those two 
countries. There are few wars recorded in history which 
have produced such beneficial consequences. 

Here, properly, speaking, terminates Oliver’s military life. 
Before bidding it farewell, let us call to mind the testimony 
which Cromwell more than once has borne to his army. “ I 
hope,” wrote he to Colonel Walton, in September, 1644, “I 
hope the kingdom shall see that, in the midst of our neces¬ 
sities, we shall serve them without disputes. We hope to 
forget our wants, which are exceeding great, and ill cared 
for; and desire to refer the many slanders heaped upon us 
by false tongues to God,—who will, in due time, make it 

* Hist. Church of Scotland, 120. 


148 


SCOTLAND. 


appear to the world that we study the glory of God, and the 
honor and liberty of the Parliament. For which we unani¬ 
mously fight; without seeking our own interests. Indeed 
we never find our men so cheerful as when there is work to 
do. I trust you will always hear so of them. The Lord is 
our strength, and in Him is all our hope.” With these sol¬ 
diers he performed wonders. Before the battle of Worces¬ 
ter, the alarm in London was very great. “ Both the city 
and the country,” says Mrs. Hutchinson, “ were all amazed, 
and doubtful of their own and the commonwealth’s safety. 
Some could not hide very pale and unmanly fears, and were 
in such distraction of spirit, that it much disturbed theii 
councils.”* Even Bradshaw, “ stout-hearted as he was,’ 
trembled for his neck. But when Oliver came to Worcester, 
advantageous as that position Avas to the enemy, he rushed 
upon them immediately, as a lion on his prey; and not 
troubling himself with the formality of a siege, ordered his 
troops to fall on in all places at once. The loss on his side 
did not exceed 200 men; yet it was, he said, “ a stiff busi¬ 
ness—as stiff a contest for four or five hours as ever he had 
seen.” 

In one of his letters, Cromwell has preserved an anecdote 
characteristic of the times, and which relates to one of his 
early battles. “ A poor godly man,” he says, “ died in 
Preston, the day before the fight; and being sick, near the 
hour of his death, he desired the woman that cooked to him, 
to fetch him a handful of grass. She did so ; and when he 
received it, he asked whether it would wither or not, now it 
was cut ? The woman said ‘ yea.’ He replied, * so should 
this army of the Scots do, and come to nothing, so soon as 
ours did but appear,’ or words to this effect; and so imme¬ 
diately died ?”* 

In this symbolical language there is a something remind¬ 
ing us of the Old Testament. The war of Scotland was 

* Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, 35G. London, 184G. 

I Letter to St. John, 1st September 1648. Carlyle, i. 385. 


SCOTLAND. 


149 


ended, and its results were prosperity and peace. Another 
symbol was now required. One of the dying soldiers on 
the battle-field of Worcester, directing his eyes towards his 
distant home in Scotland, had sufficient strength to take up 
a handful of corn, and sa} 7- , as he threw it on the ground: 
“ There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top 
of the mountains ; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: 
and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.” 
(Psalm Ixxii. 16.) 

13* 


CHAPTER VilJ 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


Blake—Love and Fear—The Rump Parliament—Dissolved by Crom¬ 
well—The Little Parliament—Speech—Cromwell’s Integrity—Re¬ 
forms- Cromwell’s Longing for Peace—The End—The Protectorate 
—Constitution—New Parliament—Cromwell’s Apology—Death of 
his Mother—Obstructions to Religious Liberty—Cromwell dissolves 
the Parliament—His Plans— L'etal , c'est viol —The Two French In¬ 
vasions—Revival of English Liberty. 

As soon as Ireland and Scotland were pacified, Cromwell 
turned his attention to the peace and prosperity of England. 
This was a more difficult task than either of those which he 
had accomplished in the two sister countries. The same 
elements which had overthrown despotism in England were 
then agitating the people, and were likely to banish from it 
all order and tranquillity. For some time foreign affairs had 
diverted men’s minds from home matters. The fleet under 
the command of Admiral Blake had just triumphed over the 
Dutch ; but now the thoughts of all w r ere concentrated anew 
on internal matters. 

After having commanded in the battle-field, the Protector 
was now to rule in the council-chamber. But let us first 
listen once more to the voice of the father and the Christian. 
The following letter addressed to Fleetwood, commander-in- 
chief in Ireland, who had married Bridget Cromwell, Ireton’s 
widow, will remind us of another in which the fond parent 
displays the same anxiety for the soul of his daughter:— 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


151 


u Fo r the Rigid Honorable Lieutenant-General Fleetwood, 
Commander-in-chief of the Forces in Ir land: These. 

“ Cockpit, December (?) 1G52 

“ Dear Charles, 

“ I thank you for your loving letter. The same hopes 
and desires, upon your planting into my family, were much 
the same in me that you express in yours towards me. How¬ 
ever, the dispensation of the Lord is, to have it otherwise for 
the present; and therein I desire to acquiesce;—not being 
out of hope that it may lie in His good pleasure, in His 
time, to give us the mutual comfort of our relation: the 
want whereof He is able abundantly to supply by His own 
presence ; which indeed makes up all defects, and is the 
comfort of all our comforts and enjoyments. 

“ Salute your dear wife from me. Bid her beware of a 
bondage spirit. Fear is the natural issue of such a spirit;— 
the antidote is, Love. The voice of Fear is : If I had done 
this ; if I had avoided that, how well it had been with me ! 
—I know this hath been her vain reasoning. 

“ Love argueth in this wise ; what a Christ have I; what 
a father in and through Him ! What a Name hath my Fa¬ 
ther : Merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in good¬ 
ness and truth; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. 
What a Nature hath my Father: He is Love ;—free in it, 
unchangeable, infinite ! What a Covenant between Him and 
Christ,—for all the Seed, for every one: wherein he under¬ 
takes all, and the poor Soul nothing. The new Covenant is 
Grace, —to or upon the Soul; to which it (the Soul) is pas¬ 
sive and receptive ; I’ll do aivay their Sins ; I’ll write my 
Law , &c.; I’ll put it in their hearts: they shall never depart 
from me, (fee. 

“ This commends the love of God : it’s Christ dying for 
men without strength, for men whilst sinners, whilst ene¬ 
mies. And shall we seek for the root of our comforts within 
us,—What God hath done, what He is to us in Christ, this 


152 


TIIE PROTECTORATE. 


is the root of our comfort: in this is stability ; in us is weak* 
ness. Acts of obedience are not perfect, and therefore yield 
not perfect Grace. Faith, as an act, yields it not; but only 
as it carries us into Him, who is our perfect rest and peace; 
in whom we are accounted of, and received by, the Father, 
—even as Christ Himself! This is our high calling. Rest 
we here, and here only. 

“ Commend me to Harry Cromwell: I pray for him, that 
he may thrive, and improve in the knowledge and love of 
Christ. Commend me to all the Officers. My prayers in¬ 
deed are daily for them. Wish them to beware of bitter¬ 
ness of spirit; and of all things uncomely for the Gospel. 
The Lord give you abundance of wisdom, and faith, and pa¬ 
tience. Take heed also of your natural inclination to com- 
pliance. 

“ Pray for me. I commit you to the Lord ; and rest 

“ Your loving father, 

“ Oliver Cromwelj. ’* 

“ The Boy and B tty are very well. Show what kindness 
you well may to Colonel Clayton, to my nephew Gregory, 
to Claypole’s brother.”* 

The Long Parliament, or the Rump, as it was called, was 
drawing near its end. This assembly was in reality a mere 
remnant of the parliament, containing a very small number 
of members, the residue of Pride’s purge. It was also un¬ 
popular in the nation, and attacked by every party. From 
all sides it was called upon to dissolve itself, and thus grat¬ 
ify the wishes of the universal people. But the Rump could 
not make up their minds to such a decided measure. 

A new power was required for the new task that remained 
to be accomplished. This power must be essentially one; 
for if the many can destroy, a single power is more capable 
of organizing and building up. It was not until a later pe¬ 
riod that Cromwell assumed the title of Protector; but his 
« * Carlyle, ii. 376. 


THE PKOTEtlGKAiE. 


153 


protectorate in reality began immediately after his return 
from Scotland. 

lie and his officers thought that, since the Pvump could 
not come to the determination of resigning their powers, 
they ought of themselves to take measures for its dissolu¬ 
tion. A new pretension of this body accelerated its end. 
On the 20th of April, 1653, Colonel Ingoldsby informed 
Cromwell that the parliament was passing a bill to prolong 
its own duration. Indignant and greatly excited, he ex¬ 
claimed : “ It is not honest; yea, it is contrary to common 
honesty.” He then hastened down to the House, followed 
by a company of musketeers, whom he left in the lobby. 
He entered the hall, and composedly seated himself in his 
usual place, listening attentively to the debate. His dress 
was a plain suit of black cloth, with gray worsted stockings, 
—the ordinary costume of the Puritans. For about a quar¬ 
ter of an hour he sat still; but when the Speaker was go¬ 
ing to put the question, he 'whispered to Lieutenant-general 
Harrison,—“ This is the time, I must do it.” Alluding to 
this crisis, he said at a subsequent period, “ When I went to 
the House, I did not think to have done this ; but perceiv¬ 
ing tljp Spirit of God strong upon me, I would no longer 
consult flesh and blood.” 

After pausing for a minute, Cromwell rose, and taking off 
his hat, addressed the members at first in laudatory terms. 
Gradually becoming warmer and more vehement, he charged 
them with injustice and self-interest, and then declared that 
he had come down to put an end to a power of which they 
had made such bad use. He Avas very excited, walking up 
and down, and occasionally stamping the floor with his feet. 
“ You are no parliament,” he said ; “ I’ll put an end to your 
sitting. Some of you are drunkards (and he pointed to 
those whom he had in view); others live a corrupt and scan¬ 
dalous life (and his eyes glanced formidably upon them) B 
*f I say you are no parliament. Get ye gone ! Give way to 
honester men.” Speaker Lentliall declared that he would 


154 


TIIE PROTECTORATE. 


not retire until forced. Harrison then took liim by the hand, 
and led him from his chair. “ What shall we do with this 
fool’s bauble ?” said Cromwell, fixing his eyes on the mace. 
*—“Here, take it away,”—and he gave it to a musketeer. 
After all the members of the Rump, to the number of 
eighty, had vanished, the Protector locked the door, put the 
key in his pocket, and returned to Whitehall. 

What he said to the Parliament was indeed the truth. It 
was well that this assembly was dissolved, and the General, 
by desiring another, looked really to the welfare of the peo¬ 
ple. Nevertheless, on this occasion, he not only violated the 
principles by which states are governed ; but he was misled 
with regard to those by which religion should guide men’s 
actions. His mainspring, as he tells us himself, was again, 
in this as in other occurrences, certain impulses which he 
looked upon as the Spirit of God. No doubt the Holy 
Spirit leads men ; but we repeat, that it is by the precepts 
in the Word of God that he leads them, and not by inward 
illuminations, more or less vague, which they think to be 
the voice of the Almighty himself, but which may be 
merely the voice of their own passions. Nevertheless, what¬ 
ever might have been the motive which influenced Crom¬ 
well’s conviction, what he did was truly for the good of the 
commonwealth. Numerous addresses from the armv, the 
fleet, and other quarters approved his conduct, and set upon 
this daring act the seal of popular opinion. Impartial pos¬ 
terity, contemplating the use he made of his power, and 
adopting the expression of an illustrious bishop, will, with 
Warburton, entitle him, “ the most magnanimous of usurpers.” 

As he now had the supreme power entirely in his own 
hands, he immediately sought to employ it in reorganizing 
the nation. In conjunction with a council of state, consist¬ 
ing of twelve members, he endeavored to form an Assem¬ 
bly of Notables, to whom the great work he had in view 
might be confided. Desirous of seeing the best men called 
together to provide for the good of their country, he 


TIIE PROTECTORATE. 


155 


thought that their choice should be intrusted to no one but 
himself. Besides, England was tired of parliaments and 
anarchy. He therefore sought in every quarter for persons 
of approved fidelity and honesty, known for their fear of 
God, their intelligence, and renunciation of Avorldly passions, 
and summoned them to undertake the renovation of the 
slate. He selected one hundred and thirty-nine representa¬ 
tives for England, six for Wales, six for Ireland, and five for 
Scotland. 

On the 4th of July, 1G53, the Protector, supported by a 
numerous body of officers, opened this assembly in the 
Council-chamber at Whitehall, and addressed them as fol¬ 
lows :—* 


“ Gentlemen, 

“.I beseech you,—but I think I need not,— 

nave a care of the Whole Flock ! Love the sheep, love the 
lambs; love all, tender all, cherish and countenance all, in 
all things that are good. And if the poorest Christian, the 
most mistaken Christian, shall desire to live peaceably and 
quietly under you,—I say, if any shall desire but to lead a 
life of godliness and honesty, let him be protected. 

“ I think I need not advise, much less press you, to en¬ 
deavor the Promoting of the Gospel; to encourage the 
Ministry; such a Ministry and such Ministers as be faithful 
in the Land; upon whom the true character is. Men that 

have received the Spirit.I speak not,—I thank 

God it is far from my heart,—for a Ministry deriving itself 
from the Papacy, and pretending to that which is so much 
insisted on, ‘ Succession.’ The true Succession is through 
the Spirit. The Spirit is given for that use, To make proper 
Speakers forth of God’s eternal Truth; and that’s right 
Succession. 

“ I confess I never looked to see such a day as this,—it 
may be nor you neither,—when Jesus Christ should be so 
* Milton, State Papers, 106-1M. Carlyle, ii. 411, &c. 





156 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


owned as He is, this day, of you.. . God manifests 

this to be the day of the power of Christ; having, through 
so much blood, and so much trial as hath been upon these 
nations, made this to be one of the great issues thereof; To 
have his people called to the Supreme Authority. He 
makes this to be the greatest mercy, next to His own Son. 
Perhaps you are not known by face to one another; coming 
from all parts of the Nation as you do: but we shall tell 
you that indeed we have not allowed ourselves the choice of 
one person in whom we had not this good hope, That there 
was in him faith in Jesus Christ and love to all His People.” 

If Cromwell’s words express the truth, this assembly was 
really one without example before or since in this world. 

A celebrated writer has called this speech and the emo¬ 
tion which accompanied it, “ mere nonsense but he adds : 
“ Beneath all this nonsense new manners were forming, and 
institutions were taking root. These characters would not 
have been so ridiculous, but for their eccentricity; still, 
everything that is strongly constituted contains a principle 
of life. The courtiers of Charles II. might laugh ; but these 
honest fanatics left a posterity which has freed the world 
from these courtiers, and punished them as they deserved.”* 
With increased elevation Cromwell still showed the strict¬ 
est integrity. He was neither a spendthrift nor a miser. 
Mammon was not his god, as it has been of so many men in 
power; and his descendants in England are far from belong¬ 
ing to the most opulent families of that country. Richard 
Mayor, it would seem, desired to make an advantageous pur¬ 
chase of land, which called forth the following reply from 
him:—f ' . 

“ For my loving Brother, Richard Mayor, Esquire, at Ilurs - 

ley, in Hampshire : These. 

“ Dear Brother, “ Whitehall, 4th May, 1654 

' I received your loving letter, for which I thank you; 

* Chateaubriand. Les Quatre Stuard? 17 Q . 
f Noble, i. 330. Carlyle, iii. 11. 



THE PROTECTORATE. 


157 


and surely were , tfit to proceed in that business, you should 
not in the least have been put upon anything but the trou¬ 
ble ; lor indeed the land in Lssex, with some money in my 
hand, should have gone towards it. 

“ But indeed I am so unwilling to be a seeker after the 
world, having had so much favor from the Lord in giving me 
so much without seeking: and am so unwilling that men 
should think me so. which they will though you only appear 
in it (for they will, by one means or other, know it), that 
indeed 1 dare not meddle or proceed therein. Thus 1 have 
told you my plain thoughts. 

“ My hearty love I present to you and my sister, my bless¬ 
ing and love to dear Doll and the little one. With love to 
all, I rest, 

“ Your loving brother, 

“ Oliver P.” 

Oliver knew that the love of money is the root of all evil. 
We often find him giving away considerable sums for useful 
purposes, but never a prey to those foolish and hurtful lusts, 
of which the apostle speaks, and which exist in those that 
will be rich. 

The Parliament, for this was the name assumed by the 
Notables, showed themselves equal to their vocation, and 
endeavored with conscientious zeal to introduce the most 
important ameliorations into the commonwealth. They estab¬ 
lished order and economy in the finances, bettered the con¬ 
dition of the prisoners, and suppressed a tax that was reck¬ 
oned arbitrary. They further desired to give the nation that 
inestimable benefit—a code of laws ; to abolish presentations, 
so that every parish might choose its own minister; to 
suppress tithes ; diminish the army; and purify the clergy. 
All these projects excited a strong opposition. 

Oliver endeavored to reconcile every exasperated feeling, 
and sought after that blessing which is promised to the 
peace-makers. lie said with St. Paul: Tf there be any conso¬ 
le 


158 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


lation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of 
the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that 
ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, 
of one mind. But all was ineffectual; for liis enemies were 
entirely blind to the spirit of that love which possessed him. 
On this subject he poured out his soul to Fleetwood. His¬ 
tory scarcely presents us another example of a statesman 
in whose heart we can read so plainly as in Cromwell’s; 
all is clear and transparent; there is not, so to speak, in his 
mind a single deep affection hidden from us ; and yet this is 
the man whom historians have charged with dissimulation! 
We shall give the letter he wrote to his son-in-law, with 
reference to the quarrels excited by the Little, or as it was 
more frequently called in derision, Barebone’s Parliament/* 


“ For the Right Honorable Lieutenant-general Fleetwood , 
Commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland: These. 


“ Cockpit, 22J August, 1653.” 

“ Dear Charles, 

“Although I do not so often as is desired by me acquaint 
you how it is with me, yet I doubt not of your prayers in 
my behalf. That, in all things, I may walk as becometh the 
Gospel. 

“ Truly I never more needed all helps from my Christian 
Friends than now ! Fain would I have my service accepted 
of the Saints, if the Lord-will;—but it is not so. Beimr of 
different judgments, and those of each sort seeking most 
to propagate their own, that spirit of kindness that is (in 
rne ?) to them all, is hardly accepted of any. I hope I can 
say it, My life has been a willing sacrifice,—and I hope,—■ 
for them all. Yet it much falls out as when the Two He¬ 
brews were rebuked : you know upon whom they turned 
their displeasure (Exod. ii. 14). 

“ But the Lord is wise; and will, I trust, make manifest 
that I am no enemy. Oh, how easy is mercy to be abused: 

* Harl. MSS. No. 7502, f. 13. Carlyle, ii. 424. 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


169 


—Persuade friends with you to be very sober! If the Day 
of the Lord be so near as some say, how should our modera¬ 
tion appear! If every one, instead of contending, would 
justify his form of judgment by love and meekness, Wisdom 
would be ‘ justified of her children.’ But, alas !- 

“ I am, in my temptation, ready to say: * Oh, would I 

had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at 
rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the 
wilderness, I would hasten my escape from the windy storm 
and tempest,’ (Ps. lv. 6, V, 8): but this, I fear, is my 
»haste.’ I bless the Lord I have somewhat keeps me alive : 
some sparks of the light of His countenance, and some sin¬ 
cerity above man’s judgment. Excuse me thus unbowelling 
myself to you; pray for me, and desire my friends to do so 
also. My love to thy dear wife,—whom indeed I entirely 
love, both naturally, and upon the best account;—and my 
blessing if it be worth anything, upon thy little Babe. 

“.Remember my hearty affections to all the officers. 

The Lord bless you all. So prayetli 

“ Your truly loving father, 

“ Oliver Cromwell.” 

“ P. S.—All here love you, and are in health, your chil¬ 
dren and all.” 

The opposition which the Little Parliament met with par¬ 
alyzed its exertions. Of all the projects discussed, none 
caused so great excitement as that concerning the purifica¬ 
tion of the clergy. The debate continued ten days, and at 
last, early on Monday the 12th of December, while the strict 
evangelical party had not yet assembled in the House, it was 
moved and carried that as the sitting of that parliament any 
longer would not be for the good of the commonwealth, it 
should deliver up to the Lord General Cromwell, the pow¬ 
ers which it had received from him. This body had sat fKo 
months and twelve days. 




100 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


With the exception of the Levellers, all parties—Royalists, 
and Episcopalians, Soldiers and, Lawyers—now turned their 
eyes to Cromwell as the sole means of safety for England. 

When he learnt the resolution of Parliament, he testified 
much emotion and surprise ; and there is nothing to authorize 
the supposition, entertained by several historians, that his 
sentiments mere not sincere. The army-leaders, finding 
themselves a second time invested with the supreme power, 
resolved unanimously to adopt a form of government more 
nearly assimilating to a monarch)', the necessity of which all 
men acknowledged. 

It was decided that Cromwell should assume the title of 
Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland ; and that a parliament of 460 mem¬ 
bers should be elected every three years. If the Protector 
neglected to issue the writs, the commissioners of the great 
seal, and, in their default, the high sheriffs of the counties, 
were to do so under pain of high-treason. The parliament 
could not be dissolved without their own consent in less 
than five months. 

All the courts of Europe recognized and congratulated 
the new governor of England. 

The elections took place, and on the 4tli of September, 
1654, Parliament met. The Protector rode in state to the 
abbey-churcli in Westminster, and after the sermon, went to 
the Painted Chamber, in which the sittings of this assembly 
were to be held. Lenthall, Fairfax, and the most illustrious 
men of the revolution were present. Taking his seat in the 
chair of state, Oliver addressed the members in a speech 
which lasted three hours.* “ Gentlemen,” said he, “ you 
are met here on the greatest occasion that, I believe, Eng¬ 
land ever saw ; having upon your shoulders the interest of 
three great nations; and truly, I believe I may say it with¬ 
out any hyperbole, the interests of all the Christian people 
in the world ” 

* Pari. Hist. xx. 318. Carlyle, iii. 23. 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


1G1 


The result corresponded very meagrely with such high 
expectations. Instead of busying themselves with the or¬ 
ganization and prosperity of the nation, the Parliament began 
to examine whether, or not, the government should be 
vested in the hands of a single person. On the 12th of 
September the Protector again addressed them thus :—* 

“ Gentlemen, 

“.I called not myself to this place : of that, God is 

witness:—and I have many witnesses who, I do believe, 
could lay dowm their lives bearing witness to the truth of 

J O 

that.If my calling be from God, and my testimony 

from the people,—God and the people shall take it from 

me, else I will not part with it. 

“ I was by birth a gentleman; living neither in any con 
siderable height, nor yet in obscurity. I have been called 
to several employments in the nation. I did endeavor to 
discharge the duty of an honest man, in those services, to 
God and His people’s interest, and to the Commonwealth. 

.I begged to be dismissed of my charge; I begged it 

again and again :—and God be Judge between me and all 

men if I lie in this matter. 

“ In every government there must be somewhat funda¬ 
mental, somewhat like a Magna Charta, which should be 
standing, be unalterable.... That Parliament should not make 
themselves perpetual is a Fundamental.Liberty of con¬ 

science in religion (equally removed from profaneness and per¬ 
secution) is a Fundamental.Another Fundamental is that 

the power of the Militia should be shared between the Pro¬ 
tector and the Parliament.” To these fundamentals 

Cromwell added a fourth, requiring all the members of tho 
House to sign a paper engaging themselves “ to be true ana 
faithful to the Protector and the Commonwealth.” Thre# 
hundred members with the speaker at their head, appended 


* 


Pari. Hist. xx. 310. Carlyle, in. 51, &c. 

14 * 










102 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


tlieir signatures; the others absented themselves from parlia¬ 
ment. 

A painful domestic event occurred at this time to divert 
Cromwell’s cares. His mother, an aged woman of ninety- 
four, resided with him at Whitehall. This venerable lady 
combined the sincerest faith with the tanderest maternal af¬ 
fection : she cared little for the royal pomp around her. The 
sound of a musket struck terror to her heart; she thought 
it was perhaps aimed at her son, and could not be satisfied 
unless she saw him once a-day at least. The close of her 
earthly career was approaching. On the 15th of November 
she called the mighty Protector of England to her bedside. 
He had ever entertained for her the most respectful and sin¬ 
cere affection. Stretching out her feeble hands she blessed 
him in these words: “ The Lord cause his face to shine 
upon you ; and comfort you in all your adversities; and en¬ 
able you to do great things for the glory of the Most High 
God, and to be a relief unto His people. My dear Son, I 
leave my heart with thee. Good night 1” and therewith she 
fell asleep in the Lord. Her son was heart-broken, and 
burst into a violent flood of tears. 

The Parliament did not answer the expectations either of 
Cromwell or of the nation. Forgetful of the wants of the 
people, they thought their whole duty consisted in struggling 
against the Protector, and in refusing to grant him, so far as 
they were able, either supplies or power. They went farther, 
and infringed upon religious liberty. The House voted that 
none should be tolerated who did not profess the fundamental 
doctrines of Christianity, and appointed a committee to draw 
! up and lay before parliament a catalogue of these doctrines. 
This committee presented sixteen fundamental articles,* ex¬ 
cluding not only deists, socinians, and papists, but arians, 
antinoniians, quakers, and others. Thus the noble principle 
of religious liberty, which Oliver was called to maintain 
throughout the world, was seriously compromised. The 
* Ncalo, History of the Puritans, 'i. 621. 



THE I’KOI ECTOR ATE. 


163 


revolution was sliding back towards bigotry and intolerance. 
Could the Protector, the enemy of both, permit such an erro¬ 
neous course to be persevered in ? 

On the 2*2d of January, 1655, the five months—five lunar 
months onty—fixed by the constitution having elapsed, the 
Lord-general summoned the House to meet him in the 
Painted Chamber. 

“Numerous dangers threaten the nation,” he said, “and 
t ou have done nothing to prevent them. The Cavalier party 
nave been designing and preparing to put this nation in 
blood again; the Levellers are endeavoring to put us into 
confusion. And these two extreme parties have labored to 
engage some in the army; and I doubt that not only they, 
but some others also, very well known to you, have helped 
to this work of debauching and dividing the army. The 
enemies of the State have confessed that they built their 
hopes upon the assurance they had of the Parliament. You 
have given them great advantages by losing the precious 
moments in your.power for effecting the happiness of the 
people. You might have settled peace and quietness among 
all professing Godliness ; you might have healed the breaches 
of these nations, and rendered them secure, happy, and well 
satisfied. You have done none of these things. But in¬ 
stead of that, you have been disputing about things already 
settled by the Constitution. You have thus consumed all 
four time, and have done nothing.” 

Cromwell reproaches with equal severity their attacks 
upon religious liberty. He continued : “ Is there not yet 
upon the spirits of men a strange itching ? Nothing will 
satisfy them unless they can press their finger upon their 
brethren’? consciences, to pinch them there. To do this was 
no part of the contest w r e had with the common adversary. 
And wherein consisted this more than in obtaining that lib¬ 
erty from the tyranny of the bishops to all species of Pro- 
'(• •tants to worship God according to their ow r n light and 

osciences? For want of which many of our brethren for- 


164 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


sook tlieir native countries to seek their bread from strangers, 
and 1o live in howling wildernesses ; and for which also 
many that remained here were imprisoned, and otherwise 
abused and made the scorn of the nation. These that were 
sound in the Faith, how proper was it for them to labor for 
liberty, for a just liberty, that men might not be trampled 
upon for their consciences ! Had not they themselves 
labored, but lately, under the weight of persecution ? And 
was it fit for them to sit heavy upon others ? Is it in¬ 
genuous to ask liberty, and not to give it ?.What 

greater hypocrisy than for those who were oppressed by the 
bishops to become the greatest oppressors themselves, so 
soon as their yoke was removed ? I could wish that they 
who call for liberty now also had not too much of that spint 
if the power were in their hands !—As for profane persons, 
blasphemers, such as preach sedition ; the contentious rail- 
ers, evil speakers, who seek by evil words to corrupt good 
manners, persons of loose conversation,—punishment from 
the civil magistrate ought to meet with these.”* 

Thus spoke Cromwell. The partisans of the tyranny, the 
popery, and the debauchery of the Stuarts may have made 
it fashionable to defame him ; but when we hear him calling 
with so much energy for toleration towards his adversaries 
in religion, we cannot refuse him the tribute of our admi¬ 
ration. 

“ I think it my duty to tell you,” he added in conclusion, 
“ that it is not for the profit of these nations, nor for common 
and public good, for you to continue here any longer. And 
therefore I do declare unto you, That I do dissolve this Par¬ 
liament.” 

Oliver was eager to promote the well-being and glory of 
England ; and he dissolved the parliament, that he might be 
more at liberty in his actions. This was the object he had 
in view during all his wars. On his medals and his coins 
were engraved these characteristic words: pax qujeritur 
* ParJ. Hist. xx. 404. Carlyle, iii 103. 



THE PROTECTORATE. 


165 


bello. Such was the device he wore on his coat of arras on 
the day of battle. Peace and the blessings of peace were all 
that he had sought in war: he now wished to impart them 
to his people. Or earth peace ! 

It may be objected that this dissolution of the parliament 
was a crime against constitutional principles ; it may be said 
that under their influence the prince (and Cromwell was a 
prince) ought not to do good, if the other constitutional 
powers are opposed to it. That may be true ; but if he 
committed a fault—which is still a matter of discussion—it 
was a virtuous fault. 

It was not from Henry VIII., nor from Elizabeth, nor from 
the Stuarts that England could learn this duty of a sovereign 
to annihilate himself. The development of the modern 
theory and its realization in practice was the task of the 
eighteenth century. That of the seventeenth was of a differ¬ 
ent kind. 

Cromwell had tried various means to accomplish the work 
which the condition of the country rendered necessary. At 
first he had had recourse to an Assembly of Notables, nomi¬ 
nated by himself; and next, to a Parliament elected by the 
nation. Neither one nor the other attained the object. He 
then thought that since others were either unable or un- 
willing to do anything, he must apply himself to the task. 
He was soon found employing the same activity in organizing 
and building up, which he had made use of in dissolving 
and throwing down. 

On the 19th of May, 1649, the Commonwealth was pro¬ 
claimed in England by an act to the following effect: “ Be 
it declared and enacted by this present Parliament, and by 
the authority of the.same, that the People of England, and 
of all the dominions and territories thereunto belonging, are 
and shall be, and are hereby constituted, made, established, 
and confirmed to be, a Commonwealth or Free State; and 
shall from henceforth be governed as a Commonwealth and 
Free State—by the Supreme Authority of this Nation, the 


10« 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


Representatives of the people in Parliame. it, and by such as 
they shall appoint and constitute officers and ministers under 
them for the good of the People ; and that without any King 
or House of Lords.” 

Cromwell had now become the head of this Free State. 
Many notable men of the age had signified their adhesion 
and their homage. The great Conde, the victor of Rocroi, 
Friburg, and Nordlingen, the friend of Boileau and Racine, 
addressed Cromwell in a letter (December 1653), which is 
but little known, and which we shall give here. 

“I am exceedingly delighted with the justice that has 
been paid to your Highness’s merit and virtue. It is in that 
only that England can find her safety and repose, and I 
consider the people of the Three Kingdoms in the height of 
their glory at seeing their goods and their lives intrusted at 
last to the management of so great a man. For my part, I 
beg your Highness to believe that I shall think myself most 
happy, if I can serve you on any occasion, and prove to you 
that no one will be so far as myself, 

« Sir, 

“ Your Highness’s 

“Most affectionate servant, 

“Louis de Bourbon.”* 

Thus wrote Conde, that great prince, over vdiose tomb' 
was heard the same voice,f which over the grave of Henri¬ 
etta, queen of England, proclaimed the nothingness of human 
grandeur. In many respects posterity has been more severe 
towards Oliver than his contemporaries were. The reason 
may be, that the latter saw the events without disguise; the 
former has too often viewed .hem through the misfa of prej¬ 
udice and the confusion of parties. 

Great Britain is certainly not fitted for a Republi ; and 
the establishment of this form of government in England has 
at all times excited great opposition. We are by no means 
* Revue Nouvelle, 1846. 399. f Bt«suet. 


Till' PROTECTORATE. 


167 


Inclined to be its apologist; but did not this form really 
proceed from the developments of history ? Will any one 
venture to assert that at the era of its existence it was really 
an evil ? 

The ancient English principles were disappearing. New 
and foreign principles were intruding themselves into the 
nation. The political ideas of France were imported into 
England. Richelieu had urged forward the great work to 
which he had devoted his life,...the royal supremacy, ab¬ 
solute power; and Louis XIV. was then completing the 
revolution begun by that powerful minister, and proclaiming 
in Europe a new system, one unknown to the Middle Ages, 
all the articles of which were reduced to this brief but sis'- 
nificant phrase : L'etat , cest mot. 

When Charles I. sought a French wife, he sought also a 
new policy. Henrietta brought to the court of England the 
manners, amusements, and spirit of France. Nor was that 
all: she desired also to give it a king after the French 
model. That was the main point. The monarch was to 
become a sort of deity placed on a lofty pedestal, and the 
people, crowding around its base, were to fall down, admire, 
and -worship. Charles earnestly applied to the task, and 
some of his first exploits were, as we have seen, to silence 
the representatives of the people, to levy taxes forbidden 
by the Commons, and to govern without a Parliament. He 
would, indeed, have allowed a few petitions,... very humble 
petitions; but that was all. There must be no opposition. 
There must be in England, as in France, but one will. 
Magna Charta was banished to the state-paper-office, and 
the barons found a master. Absolutism had ascended the 
English throne. 

Thus it was a real revolution which Charles I. undertook 
to effect, and the English people, by opposing it, opposed a 
revolt against the oldest institutions of the country. The 
cavaliers were the revolutionists : the roundheads the con¬ 
servatives The establishment of the democratical system 


168 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


was a necessary reaction against the invasion of the absolute 
system. The founder of the English Republic was no; 
Cromwell, but in reality Charles the First. 

Not only liberty, but nationality also was at stake. Tne 
cavaliers were Versailles courtiers with British faces and an 
English tongue. The roundheads were good, honest old 
Englishmen. Charles’s efforts to establish Richelieu’s svs- 
tern in England was a French invasion, which, if it had suc¬ 
ceeded, would have been far more disastrous than that of 
William the Conqueror. The arms of the English were 
more successful in the 17th century than Harold’s had been. 
There was not then a battle of Hastings, but there was, alas! 
a battle of Whitehall; and in this struggle also a king per¬ 
ished. The king of Hastings contended with his people 
against the foreigner: the king of Whitehall fought with the 
foreigner against his own people. The result of the one was 
the subjugation of England; of the other its deliverance. 
The conquest which ruined the Stuarts was the defeat of 
modern despotism, of the French spirit, and of the papal 
supremacy. The history of absolutism in England was an 
ephemeral romance, a French novel, which has served as the 
ground-work of other romances, and graphic novels in more 
recent days. 

But was this its only use?.Undoubtedly not; there 

were others certainly of greater importance. The onset of 
absolutism awoke English liberty, which lay sleeping, and 
which would have slept longer still, and all Europe with it. 
But this violent blow aroused her: she rose, she stood erect, 
as she is to this day, and will remain so, Deo juvante , until 
the end of time. Liberty did more than simply awake from 
her slumbers. Re-tempered in modern times, she started 
up stronger, more complete, and more profound. This 
awakening was almost a new creation. Perhaps this inter¬ 
lude of despotism, accompanied a la Frangaise with music 
and dancing, was destined to be placed between these two 



THE PROTECTORATE. 


1C9 


liberties,.of the Middle Ages and of modern times, in 

order to decide their transformation. 

It was necessary that all the elements of feudality, of 
corporations, of classes, whoso rights and privileges consti- 

• ated the liberty of the Middle Ages, “should be mingled and 

confounded together, in order that a new power,. 

the power of the common-law, should rise above and rule 
over them. The liberty of the Great Charter and of the 
Middle Ages was, in an especial manner, that of the aris¬ 
tocracy. The liberty of the people was now to be inaugu¬ 
rated. The charter of the thirteenth century was the eman¬ 
cipation of the Barons; the revolution of the seventeenth 
century was the manumission of the Commons. Freedom is 
as necessary for the people as for the peers. The commons 
had been too long trodden under foot alike by prince and 
baron. They then took their place at the side of these two 
powers, and there Westminster still beholds them seated and 
enjoying great influence. The nobles had often been more 
despotic over the people, than the king. Do we not see this, 
even in the present day, in Scotland, where, while the crown 
asserta and nobly maintains religious liberty 7 ", a small number 
of landed proprietors, among whom are men of noble char¬ 
acter and of great respectability, refuses to a portion of the 
poor the liberty of assembling in peace to sing their psalms 
and worship God?* Notwithstanding the revolution of the 
seventeenth century and the two centuries which have since 
elapsed, aristocratic despotism is not entirely effaced in Great 
Britainand while, generally speaking, liberty has no more 
noble defenders than the powerful lords who are to be found 
immediately below the throne, there are still here and there 
m certain castles a few dark recesses, in which absolutism 
lies concealed. But it is at its last gasp ; it can no longer 
defend itself, and the attack made upon it by the progress of 
the age will no doubt soon drive it from its gloomy lair, to 

* The refusal of sites, against which some of the chiefs of the present 
ministry have protested in the Commons. 

15 




170 


THE PROTECTORATE. 


be sacrificed in the open light of day. I may be mistaken, 
but I hope the victim will fall by the hands of these noble 
lords themselves. 

Thus the French absolutism, thrust by the Stuarts on the 
people of England, produced the effect of those iced waters 
which, being poured over the body, excite immediately a 
powerful reaction, increase the circulation of the blood, and 
uive to the entire man a new warmth and a new life. 

O 

The despotism of Charles I. brought on the transition 
from an imperfect state, which still lived on privileges, to a 
real and rational state, in which liberty was proclaimed a 
common good. 

If Charles began this transformation by following the les¬ 
sons of despotism, which he had learnt of a popish court, 
Oliver Cromwell accomplished it by the principles of Chris¬ 
tianity and true liberty, which he had found in the Gospel. 

He accomplished it not only by spurring the coursers so 
long as they had to climb the hill, but by holding them back 
when the summit was reached and they had to descend. It 
will no doubt be urged that he sometimes had recourse to 
the same means as Charles I., and that he also could dismiss 
the Commons. We do not absolve him from all blame ; but 
it should be remembered, that the same act in different cir¬ 
cumstances may have very contrary meanings. By sad ex¬ 
perience in our age, the idea has become a truism, that 
liberty may be preserved, not only by combating despotism, 
but also by saving it from its own excesses. The soldier who 
defends his flag against the enemies who attack him in front, 
may afterwards face round and defend it from those who 
attack him from behind. He has certainly turned his back , 
but he still wields his sword in the same cause ; he is still 
faithful to the same colors. 






\ 


CHAPTER IX. 

.• 

ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 

Necessity of Organization— Ecclesiastical Commission—Errors—Impar¬ 
tiality—Baxter’s Testimony—Cromwell’s—Tfre State—Discontents— 
Letter to Fleetwood—Bridget’s Anxiety—Indulgence—The Major- 
Generals—Cromwell’s System in Ireland—Official and Popular Prot¬ 
estantism—Puritan Mannerism—A better Christianity. 


Cromwell was not the only one who thought he had re¬ 
ceived a call from heaven : many of the greatest men of the 
kingdom were of the same opinion. Milton in particular 
believed that the Protectorate was a thing required by the 
necessities of the times and the everlasting laws of justice, 
and that the Protector ought now to fulfil the duties of the 
charge to which he had been summoned by the nation, like 
a Christian hero, as he had been used to do in things of less 
importance. It is an honor to Oliver to have received this 
testimony of respect and approbation from the bard of Para¬ 
dise Lost. He knew how to satisfy such great expectations. 

In a country like England, after a revolution which had 
just shaken it to its foundations, it was of primary impor¬ 
tance to regulate religion and the clergy. Episcopacy was 
nearly overthrown, and Presbyterianism was not yet estab¬ 
lished. Old abuses frequently existed by the side of new 
errors. Cromwell did not think the Church capable of 
organizing itself, and he felt it his duty to put his hand to 
the work. We should have preferred his leaving to the 
Church the power of self-government, but must in all truth 
acknowledge, that without this mighty aid it would have 

O' O y 


172 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 


been difficult to bring order and regularity out of the chaos 
in which the country was then laboring. It was therefore 
one of the first objects of the Protector’s solicitude. 

Even before the dissolution of parliament, he had been 
seriously engaged in the organization of the Church. On the 
20th of March, 1G54, he had nominated thirty-eight chosen 
men, the acknowledged flower of puritanism, who were to 
form a Supreme Commission for the Trial of Public Preach¬ 
ers. Any person pretending to hold a church-living, or levy 
tithes or clergy-dues, was first to be tried and approved by 
these men. Of these thirty-eight, nine Avere laymen, and 
twenty-nine were clergymen. The Protector had no wish 
that this Commission should be composed of Presbyterians 
alone, fearful that in this case they would admit none but 
men of their own persuasion. It contained Presbyterians, 
Independents, and even Baptists. He had cared for one 
thing onty, that they should be men of wisdom, and had the 
love of the Gospel in their hearts. Among their number 
were Owen, Sterry, Marshall, Manton, and others. To this 
ordinance he added another on the 28th of August follow- 
ing, nominating a body of commissioners selected from the 
Puritan gentry. These latter, who were distinct from the 
former, were from fifteen to thirty in each county of Eng¬ 
land ; and it was their duty to inquire into “ scandalous, 
ignorant, and insufficient ministers,” and to be a tribunal for 
judging and ejecting them. In case of ejection, a small pen¬ 
sion was to be allowed those who were married. These 
commissioners judged and sifted until by degrees they had 
winnowed the Church. This was undoubtedly a very repub- 
Ican arrangement, but it was found in practice to work 'well. 

Of the lay inquisitors not a few were CromwelTs political 
enemies; but that mattered not; they were men of pious 
probity, and that was enough for him. 

The task assigned to these persons was by no means easy, 
and nothing was more calculated to excite discontent. And 
accordingly, loud complaints were heard both from Episco- 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCII AND STAl'E. 


173 


palians and heterodox dissenters. These Triers, as they are 
sometimes called, were charged with paying littlo attention 
to knowledge or learning, and with inquiring too much into 
the internal marks and character of the grace of God in the 
heart. No doubt they committed many errors—inevitable 
errors; but a great number of cases might be produced in 
refutation of the charges brought against them. For exam- 
pie, the celebrated historian Fuller, who as the king’s par¬ 
tisan, had lost his place under the Parliament, and whose 
principles were not only Episcopalian, but High Church, who 
afterwards showed such activity for the recall of Charles II., 
who became this king’s chaplain, and who would have been 
made a bishop if death had not cut short his career in 1661, 
—this very man was presented to a living by the Triers at 
Cromwell's recommendation, although they could find no 
other evidence of the grace of God in him than this: Thai 
he made conscience of his thoughts. 

The excellent Richard Baxter has left us the following fail 
and candid account of these Commissioners :—“ Because this 
assembly of Triers is most heavily accused and reproached 
by some men, I shall speak the truth of them, and suppose 
my word will be taken, because most of them took me for 
one of their boldest adversaries : the truth is, though some 
few over-rigid and over-busy independents among them were 
too severe against all that were Arminians, and too particular 
in inquiring after evidences of sanctification in those whom 
they examined, and somewhat too lax in admitting of un¬ 
learned and erroneous men, that favored antinomianism or 
anabaptism ; yet, to give them their due, they did abundance 
of good to the Church. They saved many a congregation 
from ignorant, ungodly, drunken teachers, that sort of men 
who intend no more in the ministry than to read a sermon on 
Sunday, and all the rest of the week go with the people to 
the alehouse, and harden them in sin; and that sort of min¬ 
isters who either preached against a holy life, or preached as 
men that were never acquainted with it: these they usually 

15 * 


174 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 


rejected, and in their stead admitted of any that were able, 
serious preachers, and lived a godly life, of what tolerable 
opinion soever they were ; so that though many of them were 
a little partial for the Independents, separatists, fifth-mon¬ 
archy men, and Anabaptists, and against the prelatists and 
Arminians, yet sc gi eat was the benefit above the hurt which 
they brought to the Church, that many thousands of souls 
blessed God for the faithful ministers whom they let in, and 
grieved when the prelatists afterwards cast them out again.”* 

We must observe that the ejected ministers were only 
excluded from the privileges of the national ministry ; they 
were not deprived of religious liberty. 

The regulations of the Triers had especial reference to 
moral incapacity. The ordinance of the 28th of August, 
1654, enjoined the dismissal of all ministers who should be 
guilty of profane cursing and swearing, perjury, adultery, 
fornication, drunkenness, common haunting of taverns or 
alehouses, frequent quarrellings or fightings, &c. Those 
who maintained popish opinions were also to be ejected. 

The Episcopalians were not proscribed ; but a frequent 
use of the book of Common Prayer in public was a ground 
of exclusion’: this was alike intolerant and inconsistent. 
Still there were certain specious reasons for this limitation, 
and undoubtedly it has never been maintained that a man 
cannot be a conscientious Episcopalian without the Prayer- 
book ; which would be setting it on a level with the Bible. 

Cromwell in his speech to the second parliament, delivered 
on the 21st of April, 1657, thus alludes to these ordi¬ 
nances :—“ And truly we have settled very much of the 
business of the ministry. But I must needs say, if I have 
anything to rejoice in before the Lord in this world, ac 
having done any good or service, it is this. I can say it 
from my heart; and I know I say the truth, let any man 
say what he will to the contrary,—he will give me leave to 
enjoy my own opinion in it, and my own conscience and 

* Baxter’s Life, part i. 72. 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 1*75 

heart; and to dare bear my testimony to it: there hath not 
been such a service to England, since the Christian religion 
was perfect in England ! I dare be bold to say it; however, 
there may have, here and there, been passion and mistakes. 
And thr ministers themselves will tell you, it is beside their 
instructions, if they have fallen into passions and mistakes, 
if they have meddled with civil matters. 

“ And if the grounds upon which we went will not justify 
'..n, the issue and event ot it doth abundantly justify us, God 
Laving had exceeding glory by it,—in the generality of it, I 
am confident, forty-fold ! For as heretofore the men that 
were admitted into the ministry in times of episcopacy—alas, 
what pitiful certificates served to make a man a minister! 
If any man could understand Latin and Greek, he was sure 

to be admitted.I am sure the admission granted to 

•uch places since has been under this character as the rule : 
That they must not admit a man unless they (the Triers) 
were able to discern something of the grace of God in him. 
each and such a man, of whose good life and conversation 
th«y could have a very good testimony from four or five of 
the neighboring ministers who knew him,—he could not y< t 
be admitted unless he could give a very good testimony of 
the grace of God in him.”* 

But if it was necessary to set the Church in order, it was 
not less necessary to do the same thing for the State. The 
royalists and the levellers coalesced, and the latter boldly de¬ 
clared that they would prefer Charles Stuart to Cromwell. 
Even some of the men for whom the Protector entertained 
the sincerest affection inclined to the side of the discon¬ 
tented republicans. Among them was his own son-in-law, 
then lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Cromwell endeavored to 
remove prejudices and to maintain peace. He sent to Fleet- 
wood his second son Henry, a man of real insight, veracity, 
and resolution, and at the same time wrote the following 
letter, in which he manifests his great anxiety for concord. 

* Somers’ Tracts, vi, 339. Carlyle, iii. 360 




1 76 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 


“ To the Lord Fleetwood, Lord Deputy of Ireland .®[®[ 

“ Whitehall, 22J June, 1G55. 

“ Dear Charles. 

“ I write not often : at once I desire thee to know I 
most dearly love thee ; and indeed my heart is plain to thee, 
as thy heart can well desire : let nothing shake thee in this. 
The wretched jealousies that are amongst us, and the spirit 
of calumny, turn all into gall and wormwood. My heart is 
for the people of God ; that the Lord knows, and will in due 
time manifest; yet thence are my wounds ;—which though 
it grieves me, yet through the grace of God doth not dis¬ 
courage me totally. Many good men are repining at every¬ 
thing ; thrugh indeed very many good are well satisfiec, 
and satisfying daily. The will of the Lord will bring forto 
good in due time. 

“ It’s reported that you are to be sent for, and Harry to 
be Deputy ; which truly never entered into my heart. Th*- 
Lord knows, my desire w T as for him and his brother to hav* 
lived private lives in the country : and Harry knows thio 
very well, and how difficultly I was persuaded to give him 
his commission for his present place. This I say as from a 
simple and sincere heart. The noise of my being crowned, 
&c., are similar malicious figments. 

“ Dear Charles, my dear love to thee ; and to my dear 
Biddy, who is a joy to my heart, for what I hear of the 
Lord in her. Bid her be cheerful, and rejoice in the Lord 
once and again: if she knows the Covenant (of Grace), she 
cannot but do so. For that Transaction is without her; sure 
and steadfast, between the Father and the Mediator in His 
blood. Therefore, leaning upon the Son, or looking to Him, 
thirsting after Him, and embracing Him, we sj*e his Seed ;— 
and the Covenant is sure to all the Seed. The Compact is 
for the Seed ; God is bound in faithfulness to Christ, and in 
Him, to us. The Covenant is without us; a Transaction 
between God and Christ. Look up to it. God engagetb 



ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 1/7 

in it to pardon us ; to write His law in our heart; to plant 
His fear so that we shall never depart from Him. We, 
under all our sins and infirmities, can daily offer a perfect 
Christ; and thus we have peace and safety, and apprehen¬ 
sion of love, from a Father in Covenant,—who cannot deny 
himself. And truly in this is all my salvation ; and this 
helps me to bear my great burdens. 

“ H you have a mind to come over with your dear wife, 

take the best opportunity for the good of the public and 

your own convenience. The Lord bless you all. Pray for 

me, that the Lord would direct, and keep me His servant. 

I blc;ss the Lord I am not my own ; but my condition to 

flesh and blood is very hard. Pray for me ; I do for you all. 

* 

Commend me to all friends. “I rest 

“ Your loving father, 

“ Oliver P.”* 

This letter, although somewhat obscure, is nevertheless 
important to the knowledge of Cromwell’s Christian charac¬ 
ter. We have already reproached him with a kind of mys¬ 
ticism, nearly resembling that of certain pious but unen¬ 
lightened Christians who set what they call the inner Word 
above what they denominate the outer Word, and who seek 
the rule of their conduct not essentially without them,—in 
the commandments of God as given in the Bible ; but pref¬ 
erably within them,—in impulses and feelings in the cor¬ 
rectness of which it is easy to be deceived. The Protector’s 
mysticism might have gone farther. There are indeed Chris¬ 
tians for whom the cause of salvation is not essentially the 
work accomplished by the Redeemer on the cross, but that 
perfected by the Holy Ghost in their hearts. Both are ab¬ 
solutely necessary : but the first is the cause of salvation; 
the second, the means of applying or appropriating it, with¬ 
out which the other is a thing foreign to the individual. 
Those who think that the Christian ought to look at what is 

* Carlyle, iii. 136. 


1*78 ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 

within-him, to have the assurance of his salvation (as certain 
mystics, both Papist and Protestant, do) and not to the blood 
of the victim slain on Calvary, deprive the soul, which is 
looking for justification and peace, of every real source of 
consolation in the day of trouble and of sorrow. The work 
of Christ’s expiation is perfect; but that of our own sanctifi¬ 
cation is always attended with great wretchedness, and there¬ 
fore can give no assurance,—no confidence to an alarmed 
conscience. Cromwell protests energetically against any 
such error. Wishing to comfort his daughter Bridget, who 
appears to have felt some uneasiness with regard to her soul, 
he bids her look to the covenant of grace: he reminds her 
that this covenant is independent of her; that it, is between 
the Father and the Son by the blood of the Mediator; that 
it is without us,—a transaction between God and Christ. 
This letter (and there are other*of Cromwell’s declarations 
which have the same bearing) seems to me important in 
proving that if in one special point,—the rule of a Chris¬ 
tian’s conduct, he deviated a little from the path traced out 
for us by the Gospel, he remained steadfast in it so far as 
concerns the foundation of faith,—the work of redemption. 

The royalists, and above all the levellers, continued their 
agitation. The latter especially caused great disturbance; 
and yet Oliver always behaved mildly towards them. There 
may have been a degree of politic discretion in this forbear¬ 
ance, but it would be difficult to find many examples of the 
like disposition. 

Although indulgence might be seasonable, it was not the 
less necessary to maintain order. For this purpose the Pro¬ 
tector divided all England into twelve districts, placing in 
zach, with the title of Major-general, a man most carefully 
chosen,—fearing God, possessed of real wisdom, and of un¬ 
impeachable integrity. These officers were invested with a 
universal superintendence, as well civil as military, even to 
the control of the ministers. “ These Major-generals,” said 
he in his speech of the seventeenth September, 165G, “have 


ORGANIZATION OF CIIURCH AND STATE. 


179 


oecn effectual for the preservation of peace. It hath been 
more effectual towards the discountenancing of vice and set- 
fling religion, than anything done these fifty jmars. I will 
ibide by it, notwithstanding the envy and slander of foolish 
men.” Not long after, however, he reduced their power, 
fdiich had occasioned several abuses, and as the state of the 
country became daily more satisfactory, he finally suppressed 
them. 

Such were the first exertions of Cromwell for the civil and 
scclesiastical regeneration and organization of England. 

At the same time his eyes were turned towards Ireland, 
ind his policy with regard to that unhappy country, was rt 
flnce patient, moderate, and firm. It was still agitated : ha¬ 
tred, revolt, and anarchy had yet to be dealt with. Let us 
*ee what directions he gave his son Henry. 


“ For my Son, Henry Cromwell, at Dublin, Ireland . 

u Whitehall, 21st November, 1655. 

“ Son, 

I have seen your letter writ unto Mr. Secretary Thur¬ 
ify ' and do find hereby that you are very apprehensive of 
the iarriage of some persons with you, towards yourself and 
the public affairs. 

* l do believe there may be some particular persons who 
are not very well pleased with the present condition of 
things, cud may be apt to show their discontent as they 
have opportunity: but this should not make too great im¬ 
pressions in you. Time and patience may work them to a 
better frame of spirit, and bring them to see that which, for 
the present, seems to be hid from them ; especially if they 
shall see your moderation and love towards them, if they 
are found in other ways towards you. Which I earnestly 
desire you to study and endeavor, all that lies in you. 
Whereof both you and I too shall have the comfort, what¬ 
soever the issue and event thereof be. 


180 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 


“For what you write of more help, I have long en¬ 
deavored it; and shall not be wanting to send you some 
farther addition to the Council, so soon as men can be found 
out who are fit for the trust. I am also thinking of sending 
over to you a fit person who may command the north ol Ire¬ 
land ; which I believe stands in great need of one ; and I an* 
of your opinion that Trevor and Colonel Mervin are ver- 
dangerous persons, and may be made the heads of a new 
rebellion. And therefore I would have you move the Coun¬ 
cil that they be secured in some very safe place, and the 
farther out of their own countries the better. 

“ I commend you to the Lord ; and rest 

“Your affectionate father, 

“ Oliver P.”* 

Cromwell was familiar with this beautiful passage of Scrip¬ 
ture : If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him 
drink ; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil ivith good. What 
are his directions to his son for that unhappy Ireland, where 
the most obstinate enemies of the commonwealth still existed ? 
Patience, moderation, and love, even towards those who en¬ 
tertain the contrary sentiments against him. Such is the 
law he imposes on his representative. No hatred, no re¬ 
venge ! On the contrary, let him strive to win their hearts. 
Since the time when Christianity first announced these great 
principles to the world, the governments of the earth have 
rarely been found to put them in practice, as the Protector 
did. 

We are far, however, from approving indiscriminately that 
kind of religion which became dominant in England. There 
was an evil universally felt, and which we must point out 
once for all:—religion was too closely allied with politics. 

We do not sympathize either with what was then the re¬ 
ligion of the state, or with what might be called the religion 
* Thurloe, i. 72G. Carlyle, iii. 1G5. 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 


131 


r • the people. Both forms were tainted with the same dis¬ 
ease, although in contrary directions. 

Episcopalian or official Protestantism was closely united 
Y'ith the political principle of the absolute power of the 
.•rown. There was a compact and a bond of obligation be¬ 
tween arbitrary monarchy and Laud’s episcopacy. 

From this evil there arose an analogous one in the inde- 
pendent and popular form of Christianity. We find it allied 
with the parliamentary power and with what may be called 
the liberty-party. Politics "were confounded with religion. 
The major-generals, as we have seen, were a sort of bishops. 

These worldly alliances exercised a prejudicial influence 
over the two forms of Protestantism in England. Whenever 
system of religion subjects itself to a political system, it 
forfeits its exalted aims, its liberty, and its vitality; its real 
shape is lost, and it becomes embarrassed and enslaved. 

Vital Christiaflity did not expand in the establishment, as 
might have been expected from a church which had had its 
Latimers and its Ridleys; and the worship of the state was 
attached, on the contrary, to forms and ceremonies which 
assimilated it in some degree with royalty. 

A similar evil, though in appearance very opposite to it, 
existed in the independent form of Christianity. That free 
expansion, which should always characterize the Gospel, was 
checked ; and in its stead there was a form, truthful indeed 
and respectable, but in which a Judaic and legal spirit, a 
puritan formality, a certain biblical affectation in the language 
and in all out"ward matters, were too predominant. This 
imperfection has been exaggerated by "worldly writers : even 
real piety has not escaped the shafts of their ridicule. A 
great number of those "who bore this factitious coloring, and 
Oliver Crom-well in particular, "were sincere and earnest 
Christians. But this tinge obscured the beauty of their holi¬ 
ness. We may *go farther: under the conventional dress, 
assumed by the Christians of the 17th century, vmregenerate 

16 


182 


ORGANIZATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 


minds often concealed their wickedness, and performed • /.;* 
works of iniquity. 

The evil which we have pointed out w r as a spot upon a 
noble vesture. Unreflecting writers, taking offence at it, liav • 
desired to throw aside the garment. For our own pait, w . 
should wish to remove the stain, but not on its account un¬ 
dervalue the white robe which it disfigures. 

O ~ 

In the great struggle which took place between England 
knd the Stuarts, two things characterize the popular party. 

On the one hand, there was a great principle of liberty 
and Christian truth, for the triumph of which the people con¬ 
tended : this deserves our admiration. 

But, on the other hand, rust may defile the brightest 
weapon. Christianity, becoming subservient to a political 
idea, contracted, as we have seen, a certain narrowness and 
mannerism. 

These two elements,—the good and the bad,—bore their 
respective fruits. 

The good produced that civil and religious liberty, those 
political and Christian institutions, which are the glory of 
England, and which, in our days, are called to a still nobler 
expansion. 

The evil element, the rust on the sword, a narrow and 
legal formalism, brought on by reaction a contrary evil; 
namely, a lifeless latitudinarianism, an exaggerated liberal¬ 
ism in religion, and a deplorable relaxation of morals. 

The human mind, equally disgusted at excessive puritan- 
ism and official Christianity, recoiling from the struggles of 
parties, and desiring neither the servile forms of the state 
religion, nor the fanaticism of the sectaries, sought another 
atmosphere in which it could breathe more freely. The 
free-thinkers gave way to incredulity, which, although 
serious in England, terminated in France in a lamentable 
materialism. % 

Fortunately the consequences of this evil were but transi- 
tory, while the results of the good principle were permanent. 



ORGANIZATION OF CIILRCH AND STATE. 


183 


In describing the Christianity of England during the Rev¬ 
olution, and in defending it against unjust reproaches, we do 
not offer it to our own times as an irreproachable model. The 
present age should profit by the salutary lessons bequeathed 
to it by the past. We require a better Christianity,—one 
more free, more evangelical, more extensive, more spiritual, 
more enlightened, more moral, and more emancipated from 
every political bias. 

May God grant it to us ! 


CHAPTER X 


RELIGIOUS LIP.ERTV. 

% 

Milton to Cromwell—Cromwell’s Part with regard to Religious Liberty 
—Opposition to Radicalism, Political and Religious—Established Re¬ 
ligion and Liberty—Milton, a Champion of the Separation of Church 
and State—Cromwell’s System of Religious Liberty—The Two Great 
Interests—The Protector’s Catholicity—George Fox and Cromwell— 
Nayler—Cromwell and the Episcopalians—Roman Catholics and 
Jews—State and Protestantism Identical —Principia Vita :—A Dan¬ 
ger—True Means of Diffusing Christianity—Ely Cathedral—State 
and Church : Church and People. 

Cromwell’s exertions were not confined to civil liberty only : 
he was an instrument in the hand of God to introduce a new 

principle into the world,.one till then entirely unknown 

and overlooked. It was with reference to this, that the 
great bard of England composed the following lines:— 

TO OLIVER CROMWELL. 

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 
Not of war only, but distractions rude, 

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, 

To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough’d, 

And on the neck of crowned fortune proud 

Hast rear’d God’s trophies, and his work pursued. 

< While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued, 

And Dunbar field resound thy praises loud, 

And Worcester’s laureate wreath. Yet much remains 
To conquer still; peace hath her victories 
No less renown’d than war: new foes arise 
Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains ; 

Help us to save free conscience from the paw 
Of hireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw. 



RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


185 


The Protector needed not this appeal. Without doubt 
the question of religious liberty did not present itself to him 
as it does to our contemporaries. It is now something more 
positive and abstract. The love of truth, most assuredly, 
burnt no less brightly in his heart than the love of liberty ; 
and yet he could respect convictions which differed from hia 
own. At that period these principles were very necessary. 
The parliamentarians, bigoted successors of the hierarchists, 
had called for the suppression of that “ new heresy” entitled 
“liberty of conscience,” and had labored earnestly to this 
end. Oliver did the very contrary. 

The Protector’s ruling passion was religious liberty, and 
its establishment was his work. Among all the men of past 
ages, and even of the times present, there is not one who 
has done so much as he in this cause. It has almost tri¬ 
umphed in every Protestant nation ; its great victory is yet 
to come among those which profess the Romish creed : and 
under God, it is to Cromwell in particular that men’s con¬ 
sciences are beholden. 

It frequently happens that those who advocate liberty 
when they are in opposition, no sooner attain power than 
they employ it to oppress the freedom of others. It was 
net thus that Oliver acted. Not seldom also, when the cause 
of liberty is triumphant, its partisans carry it to excess, and 
indulge in senseless theories of equality and socialism. He 
steered cautiously between these two shoals. His speeches 
contain sentiments of admirable wisdom on the extreme dis¬ 
order of men’s minds, as well in temporal as in spiritual 
things. No one could express himself more forcibly than he 
did against the principles of the radicals and levellers, who 
aimed at. destroying all moral and social distinctions. He 
was aware that men might as well look for ships without 
frames, bodies without bones, mountains without rocks, as for 
a nation without authority and obedience. 

“ What was the face that was upon our affairs as to the 
interest of the nation ?” asked Cromwell in his second speech 

16 * 


188 


RELIGIOUS LIBEKTF. 


to parliament.* “ As to the authority in the nation ; to the 
magistracy; to the ranks and orders of men, whereby Eng¬ 
land hath been known for hundreds of years ?—A nobleman, 

•/ 

a gentleman, a yeoman.the distinction of these, that is 

a good interest of the nation and a great one! The natural 
magistracy of the nation, Avas it not almost trampled under 
foot, under despite and contempt, by men of levelling prin¬ 
ciples ? I beseech you, for the orders of men and ranks of 
men, did not that levelling principle tend to the reducing of 
all to an equality ?” 

He also complains of a similar tendency in spiritual mat¬ 
ters, and contrasts it with the former evil,—the evil of pre¬ 
lacy and popery. He continues: “The former extremity 
we suffered under was, that no man, though he had never so 
good a testimony, though he had received gifts from Christ, 
might preach, unless ordained. So now I think we are at 
the other extremity, when many affirm, That he who is or¬ 
dained hath a nullity stamped thereby upon his calling ; so 
that he ought not to preach, or not be heard.” 

The prudent firmness with which Oliver combated these 
extremes at a time when they were so potent, and when the 
true principles of liberty were not generally acknowledged, 
deserves our highest admiration. Even his adversaries have 
confessed it. Mr. Southey, although a zealous Episcopalian, 
and an enemy to the commonwealth, and who regarded the 
disastrous restoration of Charles II. as the salvation of En<^- 

O 

land, says in his book of the Church :—“ Cromwell relieved 
the country from Presbyterian intolerance ; and he curbed 
those fanatics who were for proclaiming King Jesus, that, as 
his Saints, they might divide the land amongst themselves. 
But it required all his strength to do this, and to keep down 
the spirit of religious and political fanaticism.”j* 

Perhaps his zeal was the more remarkable, as it did not 
reach the point to which many of his friends had arrived,— 

* Pari. Hist. xx. 318. Carlyle, iii. 28, 30. 
f Southey, Book of the Church, 508. London, 1837, 



RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


187 


the separation, namely of Church and State. In his third 
speech, even when professing the doctrine of an established 
state-religion, he boldly claims liberty of conscience for all.* 
“ So long as there is liberty of conscience for the supreme 
magistrate to exercise his conscience in erecting what form 
of church government he is satisfied he should set up, why,” 
asks Oliver, “ should he not give the like liberty to others ? 
Liberty of conscience is a natural right; and he that would 
have it, ought to give it. Indeed that hath been one of the 
vanities of our contest. Every sect saith : ‘ 0, give meriib- 
erty !’ But give it him and to his power—he will not yield 

it to anybody else !.Where is our ingenuousness ? 

Liberty of conscience is a thing that ought to be very recip¬ 
rocal. I may say it to you, I can say it: All the money of 
this nation would not have tempted men to fight upon such 
an account as they have here been engaged in, if they had 
not had hopes of liberty of conscience better than Episco¬ 
pacy granted them, or than would have been afforded by a 
Scots Presbytery, or an English either. This, I say, is a 
fundamental. It ought to be so. It is for us and the gen¬ 
erations to come. And if there be an absoluteness in the im- 
poser, without fitting allowances and exceptions from the rule, 
—we shall have the people driven into wildernesses. As 
they were, when those poor and afflicted people, who for¬ 
sook their estates and inheritances here, where they lived 
plentifully and comfortably, were necessitated, for enjoyment 
of their liberty 1 ", to go into a waste howling wilderness in 
New England ; where they have, for liberty’s sake, stript 
themselves of all their comfort; embracing rather loss of 
friends and want, than be so ensnared and in bondage !” 

Why did Cromwell, when he stood forth as the champion 
of religious liberty, maintain the principle of a special Church 
established by the State ? It has been supposed that he 
was guided by political considerations, being unwilling to 
strip the public authority of every sort of direction in re- 
• Pari. Hist. xx. 319. Carlyle, iii. G8. 



188 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


ligious matters, which exert so great an influence over the 
people. In the speech we have just quoted, he assigns an¬ 
other reason :—“ The supreme magistrate should exercise his 
conscience in erecting what form of church government he is 
satisfied should be set up.” In his mind probably both 
these motives were combined. 

The doctrine of the complete separation of Church and 
State found other not less illustrious defenders. The Pro¬ 
tector’s secretary, the great poet of the seventeenth century, 
was‘its resolute champion. Milton thought that the state 
oup-ht not to interfere in the interests of religion. In his 
treatise on Christian Doctrine, first published by the Rev. 
C. R. Sumner, now Bishop of Winchester, he says :—“It is 
highly derogatory to the power of the Church, as well as an 
utter want of faith, to suppose that her government cannot 
be properly administered without the intervention of the 
civil magistrate.”* The bard of Paradise Lost explained 
his views more particularly in his Treatise of Civil Power in 
Ecclesiastical Causes, and in his considerations on The like - 
liest Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church. In his 
opinion, this thesis is incontrovertibly established by four ar¬ 
guments. The first is, that every individual has an exclusive 
right in determining the choice of his own convictions; the 
second reposes on the wholly spiritual nature of the Gospel; 
the third is derived from the consequences 'which Christian 
liberty brings with it; and the fourth, from the uselessness 
or the danger of the influence of the civil power in ecclesi 
nstical matters, even when that action is protective. 

Milton was not satisfied with writing treatises ; he de 
manded of the powerful Protector the complete indepen 
dence of the Church. “ If you leave the Church to the 
Church, and thus judiciously disburthen yourself and the 
civil magistracy in general of a concern forming half their 

* Derogant ita multum potestatri Ecclesi® atque diffident, &c. J. Mil- 
toni de Dodrina Christiana libri duo posthumi , edidit Carolus Ricardus 
Sumner, p. 371. 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


189 


incumbrance, and wholly incongruous with their appropriate 
functions; not permitting the two heterogeneous authorities 
of Church and State to continue their intrigues (with an ap¬ 
parent, * hough deceitful, reciprocity of support, but to the 
actual enfeebling and eventual subversion of both); not al¬ 
lowing any constraint upon conscience—which, however, 
will necessarily continue as long as gold, the poison of the 
Church, and the very quinzy of truth, shall continue to be 
extorted from the laity to pay the wages of the clergy—you 
will cast down the money-changers, and hucksters not of 
doves, but of the Dove itself; I mean the Holy Spirit of 
God.”* 

Such was Milton’s language; but he could not induce 
Cromwell to act upon the ideas of which he was the repre- 
sentative.f 

Yet, if the Protector did not accept the system <jf Church 
''.nd State separation, he continually showed the greatest 
'.eal and perseverance in favor of religious liberty. When 
ice think of the times in which he proclaimed these princi¬ 
ples—principles so long unrecognized—we cannot forbear a 
sentiment of admiration. In his fifth recorded speech, de¬ 
livered on the 17th of September, 165G, he expressed his 
opinions in the following words :— 

“ I will tell you the truth: Our practice since the last 
Parliament hath been, To let all this nation see that what¬ 
ever pretensions to religion would continue quiet, peaceable, 
they should enjoy conscience and liberty to themselves ; and 
not to make religion a pretence for arms and blood. All 
that tends to combination, to interests and factions, we shall 

* Pecunia Ecclesiae toxicum, veritatis angina, enuntiandi Evangelii 
nierces.. .ejeceris ex Ecclesia nummularios illos, non columbas sed Co- 
lumbam, Sanctum ipsum Spiritum, cauponantes. Milton, Defensio Se* 
cunda, p. 117. 

t Milton’s system has been expounded by M. Albert Rilliet of Geneva, 
in his articles in the Semeur (Paris) entitled Un Individualist Oublie , 
published in the numbers of that distinguished Christian journal of ti« 
18th and 25th of February, and the 18th of March, 1847. 


190 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


not care, by the grace of God, whom we meet withal, 
though never so specious, if they be not quiet! And truly 
I am against all liberty of conscience repugnant to this. If 
men will profess—be they those under baptism, be they 
those of the independent judgment simply, or of the presbv- 
terian judgment—in the name of God, encourage them; 
long as they do plainly continue to be thankful to God, and 
to make use of the liberty given them to enjoy their own 
lonsciences ! For, as it was said to-day (in Dr. Owen’s ser¬ 
mon before Parliament), undoubtedly ‘ this is the peculiar 
interest all this while contended for.’ 

“ Men who believe in Jesus Christ, and walk in a profes ¬ 
sion answerable to that Faith; men who believe in the re¬ 
mission of sins through the blood of Christ, and free justi¬ 
fication by the blood of Christ; who live upon the grace of 
God, are members of Jesus Christ, and are to Him the ap¬ 
ple of his eye. Whoever hath this faith, let his form be 
what it will; he walking peaceably without prejudice to 
others under other forms :—it is a debt due to God and 
Christ; and He will require it, if that Christian may not en¬ 
joy his liberty. 

“ If a man of one form will be trampling upon the heels 
of another form; if an independent, for example, will de¬ 
spise him who is under baptism, and will revile him, and re¬ 
proach him, and provoke him, I will not suffer it in him.... 
God give us hearts and spirits to keep things equal. Which, 
truly 1 must profess to you, hath been my temper. I have 
had some boxes on the ear, and rebukes, on the one hand 
and on the other. I have borne my reproach : but I have, 
through God’s mercy, not been unhappy in hindering any 
one religion to impose upon another.”* 

Oliver felt a just pride, as he thought of these great prin¬ 
ciples of liberty, which he had (so to speak) created among 
his nation; and he boldly declared that lie had received this 

* Burton’s Diary, i. clviii. Introd. Carlyle, ni. 220-222. 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 




task from God himself, and that to Him he would give an 
account. To this effect he spoke on the 3d of April, 1057. 

“ Mr Lords, 

* “.You have been zealous of the two createst com 

eernments that God hath in the world. The one is that of 
Beligion, and of the just preservation of the professors of 
it; to give them all due and just liberty; and to assert the 
truth of God. And I pray it may not fall upon the people 
of God as a fault in them, in any sort of them, if they do 
not put such a value upon this that is now done as never 
was put on anything since Christ’s time, for such a catholic 
interest of the people of God ! 

“ The other thing cared for is, the Civil Liberty and Interest 
of the Nation. Which, though it is, and indeed I think 
ought to be, subordinate to the more peculiar interest of 
God, yet it is the next best God hath given men in this world ; 
and if well cared for, it is better than any rock to fence men 
in their other interests. Besides, if any whosoever think 
the interest of Christians and the interest of the nation in¬ 
consistent, or two different things, I wish my soul may never 

enter into their secrets !.Upon these two interests, if 

God shall account me worthy, I shall live and die. And I 
must say, If I were to give an account before a greater tri¬ 
bunal than any earthly one, I could give no answer that were 
not a wicked one, if it did not comprehend these two ends.”'* 

The Protector realized in his life that wide catholicity 
which he expressed in his public speeches. He was a Pro¬ 
testant Christian; but did not join himself to any party. 
Although an independent by principle, he thought that all 
the reformed churches were part of the Catholic Church, 
and he looked with equal favor upon Independents, Presby¬ 
terians, and Baptists: his chaplains belonged to these several 
denominations. In this sincere catholicity, he was so far in 
advance of his age, that it has called forth a singular remark 
* I*arl. lli-st. xxiii. 161. Carlyle, iii. 273, 274. 




192 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


from M. Yillemain : “ Cromwell’s neutrality for forms oi 
worship, compared with the fervor which he always affected, 
would of itself be enough to convict him of hypocrisy. In 
that fanatical age, faith was never distinct from intolerance, 
and if Cromwell had been sincere, he would have chosen 
the sect he preferred to follow.”"* In this manner has 
Oliver been judged ! Even his virtues have been distorted 
to prove that he w r as vicious. Where can we find a man 
whose character might not similarly be perverted by so 
odious a method ? It is not easy to show greater ignorance 
of the power and spirit of the Gospel, than this eloquent 
biographer has done in these few lines. 

The Protector excluded no Christians from his fraternal 
sentiments, however much they might vary from the forms 
to which he was attached. Towards the quakers in particu¬ 
lar he showed great charity. 

George Fox, who, while tending his master’s sheep, had 
indulged in religious meditations, and had deduced the cor- 
ruption of the Church from its forgetfulness of the inlaid 
for the outward light, had then begun his mission. lie had 
heard a voice within him calling him, as he thought, to 
preach repentance; and, docile to this spiritual admonition, 
he exhorted all men to listen to that internal revelation, 
which was in his opinion the source of life. In this there 
was much with which Cromwell sympathized. 

Put Fox’s preaching agitated the people, and in several 
instances divine worship was disturbed. The quaker was 
seized and thrown into prison, and dragged from jail to jail 
by the inferior officers of justice, or else frequently com¬ 
pelled to sleep in some cave, or in the open air. 

In the midst of these persecutions he found means to write 
jo the Protector and ask for an interview. This was grant¬ 
ed ; and one morning, while Oliver was dressing, the quaker 
was introduced. “ ‘ Peace be in this house,’ said he, 
‘ Thank you, George,’ was Cromwell’s mild reply. ‘ I am 

* Villemain, Cromwell, ii. 200. 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


l~a* 

come,’ resumed the other, ‘to exhort thie to keep in the 
fear of God, that thou mayst receive wisdom from Him, and 
by it be ordered, and with it mayst order all things under 
thy hand to God’s glory. Amen ” He listened to me very 
attentively;” continues FoxA “I had much fearless dis¬ 
course with him about God and his apostles of old time, and 
of his ministers of new; about death and the unfathomable 
universe, and the light from above; and he would often in¬ 
terrupt me by saying : * That is very good—That is true !' 
and he carried himself with much moderation towards me. 
As people were coming in, he caught me by the hand, and 
with tears in his eyes, said : ‘ Come again to my house, for 
if thou and I were but an hour a-day together, we should 
be nearer one to the other ;’ adding, that he wished me no 
more ill than he did to his own soul.—‘ Hearken then to 
God’s voice,’ said I, as I was going. Captain Drury begged 
me to stay and dine with Oliver’s gentlemen; but I de¬ 
clined, God not permitting.”! With such mildness, with 
such a mixture of piety, sympathy, and respect did the ruler 
of England treat those sects to which he did not belong. 

Many of the Friends at that time indulged in great ex¬ 
cesses. Nayler in particular, who was called by his par¬ 
tisans The Everlasting Sun of Righteousness, the Prince of 
Peace, the Only-begotten Son of God, and to whom his dis¬ 
ciples paid divine honors, crying before him : “ Holy, holy, 
holy is the Lord God of Hosts,” is a striking example. 
When parliament, after several sittings, had condemned the 
fanatical quaker, who at Bristol had parodied Christ’s entry 
into Jerusalem, Cromwell felt a desire to interfere. He was 
doubtful, as it would appear, of the justice of the sentence 
passed upon him, and would have saved him. With this 
view lie sent the following message to parliament:— 

* Fox’s Journal, i. 205. Leeds, 1836 

t Ibid. Cartyie, id. 149. 

17 


194 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


il 


To our lit(/ht Trusty and Right Well-beloved Sir 
Thomas Wald ring ton, Speaker <>f tie Parliament: 

To be communicated to ike Parliament. 

“ 0. P. 


Right Trustv and Weil-beloved, We greet you well. 
Having taken notice of a judgment lately given by your- 
telves against one James Xavier: although We detest and 
abhor the giving or occasioning the least countenance to per- 
sons of such ouinions and practices, or who are under the 

JL * 

guilt, of the crimes commonly imputed to the said person : 
yet We, being intrusted in the present government, on be¬ 
half of the people of these nations, and not knowing, how 
far such proceeding, entered into wholly without Us, may 
extend in the consequences of it,—do desire that the House 
would let Us know the grounds and reasons whereupon they 


proceeded. 


U 


Giv 


r/> y*| **; f 
il ilV 


Whitehall, the 25th of December, 1G5G.’’* 


It docs not, however, appear that Xavier was pardoned. 
He was looked upon as a blasphemer, and liberty had not 
yet gone so far as to believe that such a person should pass 
unpunished. It would have been wiser to have treated him 
as a madman. 


Episcopalians were not. excluded from the Protector’s 
catholicity. He showed them respect and affection, although 
the decided royalism of most of them compelled him to 
maintain a certain reserve. Dr. George Bates, an eminent 
royalist and a great opponent of Cromwell, writes, “ That 
the Protector indulged the use of the common prayer in fam¬ 
ilies and in private conventicles; and though the condition 
of the Church of England was but melancholy, vet it can- 
not be denied, they had a great deal more favor and in- 
lulgence than under the Parliament; which would never 


• Burton i. 370. Carlyle, iii. 2G!i, 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


195 


have be in interrupted, had they not insulted the Protector, 
and forfeited their liberty by their seditious practices, and 
plottings against his person and government.”* 

The behavior of the royalists, who threatened Cromwell 
with death, and were actually in arms against him, having 
led to the publication of an order on the 24th of November, 
JG55, which still further restricted the Episcopalian clergy, 
the Protector, at the solicitation of Dr. Gauden and Arch' 
bishop Usher, promised to recall his declaration, “ provided 
the clergy would not meddle with matters of state.” But 
when he laid the affair before his council, the latter were of 
opinion that by so doing he would encourage the enemies of 
his government, and they would only consent to suspend 
its execution, so far as the behavior of the clergy should 
deserve. 

Cromwell in fact allowed the Episcopalian ministers, who 
were moderate in their political sentiments, to preach pub¬ 
licly in the churches at London and in the country. Among 
these were Dr. Pearson, bishop of Chester, and Dr. Ilall, his 
successor in that see, with the Drs. Ball, Wild, Hardy, and 
Griffith. “It is certain,” says Bishop Kennet, “ that the 
Protector was for liberty, and the utmost latitude to all par¬ 
ties, so far as consisted with the peace and safety of his per¬ 
son and government; and even the prejudice he had against 
the Episcopal party was more for their being royalists, than 
for being of the good old church.”f And Mr Southey even 
roes so far as to assert that “ he would gladly have restored 
the Episcopal church in England.”! Nay, Oliver went far- 
iher than this : he was opposed to the Roman-catholics, not 
on account of their religion, but because they were enemies 
to the government and to the country. It was the Jesuits 
rather than the Catholics whom he restricted. The motives 
of his conduct are thus set forth in a declaration of the 31st 
of October, 1655:—“It was not only commonly observed, 

* Neale, ii. G24. t Neale, ii. 65 L 

J Book of the Church, 509. 


193 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY”. 


but there remains with us somewhat of proof, that Jesuits 
have been found among discontented parties of this nation, 
who are observed to quarrel and fall out with every form of 
administration in church and state.”* 

Even in regard to Koman-catholicism, the Protector then 
professed more liberal opinions than are perhaps entertained 
by many religious men and politicians ot the present day . 
This will appear from the following letter:— 


“ To hh Emineney Confin'd J iazarin. 

“ Whitehall. *J0th December, 1G5G. 

“ The obligations, and many instances of affectum, which 
I have received from your Emineney, do engage me to make 
returns suitable to your merits. Put although I have this 
set home upon my spirit, I may not (shall 1 tell you, I can¬ 
not ?) at this juncture of time, and as the face of my affairs 
now’ stands, answer to your call for toleration [to the Catho¬ 
lics here]. 

“ I say, I cannot, as to a public declaration of my sense 
in that point; although I believe that under my government 
your Emineney, in the behalf of Catholics, has less reason 
for complaint as to rigor upon men’s consciences than under 
the Parliament. For I have of some, and those very many, 
had compassion ; making a difference. Truly I have (and 
I may speak it with cheerfulness in the presence of God, 
who is a witness within me to ihe truth of what I affirm) 
made a difference ; and, as Jude speaks, plucked many out 
of the fire, —the raging tire of persecution, which did tyran¬ 
nize over their consciences, and encroached by an arbitrari- 
ness of power upon their estates. And herein it is my pur¬ 
pose, as soon as I can remove impediments, and some weights 
that press me down, to make a further progress, and dis¬ 
charge my promise to your Emineney in relation to that.... 

“.I will conclude with giving you assurance that I 

* Neale, ii. G51. 



RELIGIOUS LIIJERTT. 


197 


will never be backward in demonstrating, as becomes your 
brol her and confederate, that I am 

“ Your servant, 

“ Oliver P.”* 

Cromwell would have desired to go still farther, but was 
prevented. A learned Portuguese Jew of Amsterdam, 
Manasseh Ben Israel, had been residing for some time in 
England, whence the Jews had been banished four hundred 
years before, and had in vain petitioned both the Long and 
the Little Parliament that they should be permitted to settle 
in 1 hat country again. The Protector was favorable to his 
request, and on the 12th of December 1655, a conference 
composed of divines, lawyers, and merchants, met at White¬ 
hall to consult upon the affair. Cromwell spoke in favor of 
liberty, and, says an eye-witness, **' I never heard a man 
speak so well.”—“ Since there is a promise'in Holy Scrip¬ 
ture of the conversion of the Jews,” he said, “ I do not 
know, but the preaching of the Christian religion, as it is 
now in England, without idolatry or superstition, may not 
conduce to it.” The majority of the assembly declared 
against his propositions. Both merchants and divines were 
equally opposed to them. The Jews could not reside in 
England except by private sufferance of the Protector.f 

His zeal for freedom of conscience is one of the noblest 
pages in his history, and in the history of every age. Where 
the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. 

This religious liberty was a real good. There was, how¬ 
ever, ari evil; it was not sufficiently complete. On the one 
hand, the Episcopal church was too constrained ; on the 
ether, the Independent church was too much favored. Both 
were injured by this protection and this restraint. Crom¬ 
well d i n . ; t entirely escape the shoal on which bis prede- 
< , .7 struck, namely, that of patronizing bis own partj 

* Thurloe, v. 735. Carlyle, iii. 219. 
t Harl. Miscel. vii. 617. 

17 * 


198 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


too muon, and restricting the others. He did, perhaps, ah 
that might reasonably have been expected of him. He 
feared that if Religion were left entirely to herself; she would 
be rent in pieces and annihilated, as it were, in the struggle 
of sects and parties. .Rut unrestricted movement, governed 
solely by the Word of God, is necessary to the prosperity 
of religion. 

There are dangers peculiar to a national church, and those 

who love such an establishment, particularly its rulers, should 

endeavor to find them out. The state-church in England 

did not escape these shoals in the sixteenth and in the early 

part of the seventeeth century; and hence arose essentially 

those remarkable deviations to which it yielded under Laud’s 

•/ 

direction. The patronage of the political power may be no 
less hurtful to a church, than its persecution. For this 
reason the liberty and independence of the Church should 
ue, in our opinion, greater than they were under Cromwell. 
The remedy which lie applied partially failed in its effect, 


because it was tainted with the disease which it was intended 
to cure. I must explain myself. 

The state had identified itself with Protestantism. The 
doctrine of the Church, the xxxix articles, the offspring of 
a free and lively faith, had received a iuridical meaning: and 
a political existence. These articles, first drawn up in the 
reign of Edward VI. by Cranmer and Ridley, and revised 
by the synod of London in the reign of Elizabeth (anno 
1502), had become, by statute in 1571, a law of the state 
and part of the English constitution. They gave laws to the 
political as well as to the religious body. 

What had been the true origin of Protestantism?—An 
act of Parliament?—No! It was to a spiritual life, a moral 
force, and an intellectual power, all in intimate alliance with 
each other, that Protestantism owed its birth. Ther tire 
elements were the springs of its life. In order that t sh ui t. 
exist, with the vitality that was peculiar to it, it w.u : - d- 
site that these rincipia i\Uz should be maintain 7 ; i \eir 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


199 


pristine activity. There can be no doubt that the doctrines 
contained in the thirty-nine articles w ere a glorious fruit of 
these three original forces, and might thus concur, to a cer¬ 
tain point, in preserving them in full vigor. This reallr 
happened in some cases; not always, however; and there 
was frequently a contrary result. 

In tact an unexpected danger soon made its appearance. 
It seemed that the Church and State had taken possession 
of the truth forever: they were upon sure grounds. Who 
could take away from the congregation of the children of 


God the living doctrines of salvation ? They were secured 
by the statute of 1571 ! In the name of the State the 
Churcn was in possession of its dogmas, its forms, its organ¬ 
ization, and all that was necessary to the development of its 
religious life. The Act of Uniformity of 1562 and 1563 
was a supererogatory safeguard to them. They were guar¬ 
anteed by all the three orders of the government. 

But sometimes, by too great earnestness in guarding a 
treasure, we run the risk of losing it. True Protestantism 
had not been formed by the crown, the peers, and the com¬ 
mons ; but by the struggles of the fathers, by their confes¬ 
sions, by their burning stakes, by the word of their testimony 
and the blood of the Lamb. Could the precious fruits of 
these trials be transmitted by inheritance to their children ? 
Could they receive them,'as they receive the estates and 
mansions of their ancestors? Was it enough that the con¬ 
flicts of the Reformation were severe and bloody, for the 
blessings acquired by them to become a sure and inalienable 
possession ? No doubt, in the latter half of the sixteenth 

a 

century and in the first of the seventeenth, the Protestants 
could easily imagine that after a time of war , a time of ‘peace 
had come at last;—after the conquest, the enjoyment of its 
fruits. This imagination was in harmony with human na¬ 
ture; but what would be the result of such a delusion ? 

The longing after enjoyment ordinarily leads to a danger¬ 
ous security. Mon desire to possess without the labor of 


200 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


r.cuuiring: they would fain eat without toiling,—and yet the 
Word of God lias declared, Jf any will not work , neither 
shill he eat. Christian truth is a reward bestowed on the 
exertions of the champion, and is not to be acquired without 
r.v inward struggle, which alone causes the truth to live in 
us. and alone makes us ■partakers of the heavenly calling. 
England possessed episcopacy, the liturgy, and the articles, 
to all of which an exaggerated importance was attached. 
To the ceremonies of the church was ascribed a peculiar and 
creative efficacy, which they have not in themselves, and 
which they cannot possess without the animating breath of 
the If.oly Ghost. For the wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearesi the sound thereof, hut canst not tell whence it 
eometh. and whither it goeth : so is every on? that is Lorn cf 
the Spirit. 

There are means established by the Head of the Church, 
and by which alone the kingdom of God expands and is 
maintained. These are neither episcopal succession, nor 
the opus opera turn of the sacraments, nor other similar insti¬ 
tutions. We must faithfully preach the Word of God, teach 
the people, and pray to the Lord without ceasing; we must 
foster and extend the reading of the Holy Scriptures, en¬ 
lighten men’s minds, and convince their consciences by pious - 
conversations ; we must diligently labor at the cure and con¬ 
solation of their souls ; we must make the light of a Christian 
life shine before the world, and by our example lead men to 
be imitators of Jesus Christ. In this manner the good seed 
is scattered anew in the field of each successive ireneration. 

O 

It is thus the earth bringeth forth, first the blade, then the 
ear, and after that the fall corn in the car: thus the evan¬ 
gelical life unfolds itself. A church is continued in the 
same manner as it was begun; that is, by the same Word 
and Spirit of God. 

No Protestant can deny these truths, for they are the very 

• j 

essence of Protestantism. Oliver most justly appreciated 
them. lie would have substituted the spiritual strength of 


RELIGIOUS LIBEIilT. 


201 


the Word of God for the pomps and prayers, more or jess 
material, which Archbishop Laud had patronized. We will 
quote an example selected from the period when he was 
governor of Ely. As the Rev. Mr. Hitch persevered in cel¬ 
ebrating divine worst:p in the cathedral with all the forms 
and usages which the Archbishop of Cantorourv had rceom- 
mended, Governor Cromwell addressed to him the following 
letter: 


To the lieu. Mr. IT 


x Mae. 


My, 10th January, 1044 


“Mr.. linen, 

“ Ixd it the soldiers should in any tumultuous or disorderly 
way it-Vimpt the reformation of the cathedra church, I 
require you to forbear altogether your clioir-service, so un¬ 
edifying and offensive:—and this as you shall answer it, if 
any disorder should arise thereupon. 

“I advice you to catechize, and read • -A expound the 
Scripture to the people; not doubting bin die r.oliament, 
with the advice of the assembly of Divines, will direct you 
farther. I desire vour Sermons too, where usually thev 


ha v ? been,—but more frequent. 

“ Ycur loving friend, 


“ Oliver Cromwell/' 


Here we see Oliver recommends catechizing, reading and 
expounding Scripture, and more f requent sermons. This was 
what lie desired to substitute for the choir services. It is in 
truth by such means that a church is vivified and built up; 
and t> them even Popery has recourse (at least to catechizing 
and sermons) whenever she finds herself attacked. 

But here was the evil: this order proceeded from a gen¬ 
eral,—from a governor ; and Cromwell appeals to the direc¬ 
tions of parliament. 

And to this matters had arrived at last. Protestantism 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


n 0<> 

h:ul become the law of the country by a vote of the legisla¬ 
ture, and as such was imposed on all men. 

A law of this kind cannot give life. Since even the law 
of God d:es rot produce it, how much the less can it be the 
effect of the Lw of man *? Have ye received the Spirit by the 
works of the law , asks St. Paul, or by the hearing of faith? 
The civil power, by laying its rude and unskilful hands on 
the tree of faith, may shake down a few beautiful flowers oi 
break off some noble branches, but cannot impart to it that 
sap, which alone br\ g-'h forth ranch fruit. One only can 
give it: Tie who is the true Vine, and without whom we can 
do nothing. 

And even shot* <: the civil power endeavor to do good by 
the establishment of really evangelical institutions, party 
spirit will interfere and exch-v formidable opposition. This 
O-omwell often experienced. “ When we come to ue other 
trials, as In that case of Wales, of establishing a pleaching 
ministry ; u Wales, which I must confess for my part, I set 
myself upon,—if I ihcvld relate what discountenance that 
business of the poor people c\ God there had (who had men 
watching over them like so many wolves, ready to catch the 
lambs so soon as they were brought forth into the world); 
how signally that business was trodden under foot in Parlia¬ 
ment, to the discountenancing of the honest people, and the 
countenancing of the malignant party, of this commonwealth!” 

Next to its union with Christ, the great essential for a 
church is its position with regard to the Christian people, its 
intimate and constant connection with souls, for the field is 
the world. Nothing can be more lamentable than for the 
Church to forget this, and to make its position with respect 
to the State the material point. It will imagine that it has 
done its duty, if it preserves the state in a rigid orthodoxy. 
But of what consequence is it that parliament should be the 
champion of Protestantism, if true Protestantism, the spir¬ 
itual and Christian life, is found no longer among the people ? 
A church may then appear brilliant and flourishing from 


RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 


203 


afar, but lie that hath the seven Spirits of God will address it 

in these words: Thou hast a name that thou liicst , and art 
dead. 

To sum up all in a few words : a national church is secure 
onl) when, far from boasting of its union with the state, it 
places no confidence in the guarantees given it by the con¬ 
stitution, and looks for its life and its prosperity solely in 
union with its Head, in the strength that the Spirit and 
the Word of God should develop in it, and in the free and 
en'rgctic exercise of the intellectual, spiritual, and moral 
forces of each of its members and of the whole community. 

This is a useful lesson for the times present. 

Cromwell went very far in religious liberty, but still not 
far enough. He did wrong in transferring his patronage 
from Episcopacy to the Independents. Had he left all sects 
free, without protection as without restraint,—had evangel¬ 
ical Episcopacy, in particular, been able to move freely, 
r ligion would have been developed with more simplicity, 
and would probably have escaped that narrow mannerism, 
that cant with which it has been reproached, sometimes 
perhaps with reason, by men of the world. Puritanism 
would have exercised a vivifying influence on the Episcopal 
religion; and the Episcopal religion would have had a regu¬ 
lating and moderating influence on puritanism. 

Yet Oliver accomplished an immense work for his times; 
and England should now raise to him a monument, a tr? 
umphal arch, with this inscription: 

To the Founder ok Religious Liberty, 

We submit this to the consideration of those who have 
earnestly taken to heart Canning’s motto and Cromwell’s 
work. 


7 * 


C H A P 1 E K XI. 


MORALITY, GLORY, AND AXTH’OPKRY OF 


END L A Ml. 


The State—Principal Duty—The Glory of England—Morality—Tri¬ 
umphs of Great Britain—Commerce—Justice—Opposition to Spain- 
Anti popery—Cromwell’s Name—The Lion of the Tribe of Judah. 


To Cromwell the Stale was a divine institution, the main¬ 
taining and governing of which belonged supreme^ to God. 
He would not, like certain parties, look upon it as a purely 
human society. He did not think that it was based simply 
on terrestrial facts, such as conquests, treaties, and constitu¬ 
tions. He was not indeed blind to the influence of these 
tilings, but over all, according to bis views, the intervention 
of the Deity was to be recognized. 

In some of his applications of this principle he uent too 
far. The State is an institution against iniquity. The prince 
is the minister of God to execute wrath upon him that doeth 
evil. In this respect, we may believe that the civil power 
and the Church have regard to the same object, since Christ 
the Head of the Church, came into the world to take away 
sin. But that resistance to evil, which characterizes the 
Church and the State alike, must be accomplished in two 
different ways. It is by very dissimilar and by very oppo¬ 
site means that these great societies attain the end they have 


in view. The law cf the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath 
made me free from the laic of sin and death. This is the 
means whereby tlie Church suppresses ?v ; l: and in this 
there is no connection with that comCrnot and with that 
ticord which a ruler beareth r.ot in vain. 

From these paths, so different and so distinct, laid down 


AN'TTPOPERY OF ENGLAND. 


20 > 


for each ot these societies, there results a rule which is too 
frequently overlooked. The State should be careful not to 
aim at producing what is beyond its function: the Church 
should not presume to do that from which it ought to ab¬ 
stain, As in the State it is necessary to keep the legisla¬ 
tive, judicial, and executive powers distinct that all may go 
on harmoniously; so, in the nation, we must distinguish be¬ 
tween the sphere of the Church and of the State, that the 
people m.:y be happy and prosperous. We cannot deny that 
01ivo v seems occasionally t( have gone too far, as a political 
chief, matters of l.Cigion. 

Hut th?re is one point which lie \yr? very clearly, and ip 

regard to which his notions were liue,.the pros 

perily and power of a nation are based essentially on its mo 
rnlity and on its faith, lie understood m re distinctly per 
haps than any other ruler, that no country can exist and 
nourish unless it have within some principle of life. 

He had, indeed, ether passions not less noble than that of 
religious liberty. The greatness, prosperity, and glory of 
England was a no less potent necessity in him, and he wor¬ 
thily act d up to it. lie said one day in council: “ I hope to 
make the name of an Englishman as great as ever that of a 

O C5 

Homan has been.” And in effect he so augmented the 
general resources and maritime power of the nation, that he 
procured for it a more extensive European celebrity and in¬ 
fluence than it had ever possessed under any of its kings. 

But the Protector knew that righteousness cxalicLh a na¬ 
tion, and it was by this means lie desired to elevate his own. 
God himself spoke to this people. 

The army was subjected to an admirable moral discipline, 
which, with the piety that animated most of the officers and 
soldiers, concurred in keeping up a purity of ir/jumr? till 
tl en unknown, especially in the garrison and in A -.' e c ^.p. 

Tim same morality prevailed at the Protector s ccurt. 
Everything was becoming and honorable: o xrything in 
strong contrast with the lev ity' and debuu r '_ cry that sur- 

1S 



MORALITY, GLORf, AND 


20b . 

rounded the unfortunate son of Charles I. in a foreign conn* 
try, and of which the catholic court of France ere long pre- 
sented so deplorable an example. 

The moral purity which distinguished the epoch of the 
Protectorate is a fact of great importance. We are here, in 
truth, called upon to apply the rule given in the Word of 
God: Every good tree hringeth forth good fruit; but a cor¬ 
rupt tree hringeth forth evil fruit. When unbelievers and 
libertines pronounce for the reign of Charles II.,—a reign 
characterized by great public liv^v usncss,—anu against 
the commonwealth, so remarkable i % ,r 1'Z Christian virtues,— 
we can easily understand them. But when moral and rslig- 
ious people do the same, we are at a loss to account for 
their motives. This is a matter of such consequence that we 
feel it our duty to quote on this point the opinions of writers 
both English and French,—writers very Romish, very royal¬ 
ist, and very hostile to the Protector. 

Dr. Lingard, a witness beyond suspicion, does homage to 
the morality of his government, although, with the candor 
habitual to the mass of Papists, he will not see in it anything 
besides appearances. “ Among the immediate consequences 
of the Restoration [of Charles II., in 1000], nothing ap¬ 
peared to the intelligent observer more extraordinary than 
the almost instantaneous revolution which it wrought in the 
moral habits of the people. Under the government of men 
making profession of godliness, vice had been compelled to 
wear the exterior garb of virtue; but the moment the re¬ 
straint w r as removed, it stalked forth without disguise, and 
was everywhere received with welcome. The cavaliers, to 
celebrate their triumph, abandoned themselves to ebriety and 
debauchery; and the new loyalists, that they might prove 
the siue'Hly of their conversion, strove to excel the cavaliers 
in licentiousness. Charles, who had not forgotten his former 
reception in Scotland, gladly availed himself of the oppor¬ 
tunity to indulge his favorite propensities.”* 

• Lingud, Hist. England, xi. 244. London, 1839. 


ANTIPOPERT OB' ENGLAND. 


201 


Such is the testimony of an English writer; and now lei 
us hear what a Frenchman says. Chateaubriand, in spite of 
all his prejudices against Protestantism, is struck with the 
did ere nee in a moral light between the two revolutions of 
France and England. “ This brief republic,” he observes, 
u was not without glory abroad, or without virtue, liberty, 

and justice at home. This difference between the two 

revolutions, which have nevertheless led to tl 3 sanrs result, 
the same liberty, proceeds from the religious sentiment which 
animated the innovators of Great Britain.” He adds farther 
on: “ Setting aside the illegality of Cromwell's measures 

.ail illegality necessary perhaps after all to maintain his 

illegal power.the ursupation cf thie gr?at man was a 

glorious one. At home, he asserted the reign of order. 
Like many despots, he was the friend of justice in every¬ 
thing which did not touch his own person ; and justice 
serves to console a people for the loss of their liberty.”* 

Such arc the avowals which truth has extorted from these 
writers, so eminent but so blinded by obstinate prejudices. 

The superior morality which characterized England in the 
lime of Cromwell, shoived itself abroad by incontestable 
rr^ofs. 

A 

The English nation, which, under the two first Stuarts, 
foreigners had begun to regard as pusillanimous, suddenly 
displayed the most striking valor both by land and sea. 
Freedom and piety, equally dear both to the soldiers and 
sailors, gave them fresh energy, and urged them on to fight 
everywhere, as if in defence of the most sacred rights. 

We shall not recount all the high deeds of arms by which 
England gave token to the world of the renewal of her 
power. We are not waiting a history of Great Britain. The 
victories gained over Holland by the English fleets under the 
command of Blake and Monk; the gallant Van Tromp, shot 
t<. the heart with a musket ball, and his shattered fleet esca¬ 
ping ir: disorder to the Texel; Cromwell in person reading 

* Les Quatre Stuards. 





208 


MORALITY, GLORY, AND 


to parliament the account of these victories, and proposing a 
national recompense to the victorious admirals; the United 
Provinces acknowledging the supremacy of the British Sag, 
making to the English a tardy reparation for old injuries, and 
even excluding the House of Orange from the stadtholder- 
ship, because of its alliance with the Stuarts ; Spain the first 
to come forward and do homage to the Protector, and even 

urging rim openly to seize upon the crown of England,. 

a flattery to which h‘s only reply was a disdainful silence ; 
Portugal, France, the Elector of Brandenburg, at that time 
almost unknown in Europe, all the other states, and even 
Christina of Sweden, then on her way to Rome, laying at the 
(:tt of (Ireat Britain and of her chief the tribute of their 
respect and admiration ; the fleets of Spain beaten aga'n and 
again; the Viceroy cf Mexico, surrounded with his treasures, 
expiring on the deck of his burning ship ; millions of ingots 
of gold carried to London as a monument of triumph ; other 
ships and other galleons bringing fresh treasures from the 
New World, burnt and sunk a second time in the bay of 
Tenerifle; Gibraltar attracting the eagle eye of the Protec¬ 
tor—“ the town and castle of Gibraltar, if possessed and 
made tenable by us, would be both an advantage to our trade 

and an annoyance to the Spaniard;”.these are some of 

the facts which show how the Protector exalted and main¬ 
tained in the sight of the foreigner the might and the glorc 

O O O O y 

of England. 

But it was not in battles only that Cromwell sought the 
power of his country; his practised eye easily discerned 
what ought to make the prosperity of Great Britain, ari his 
zeal for commerce surpassed that of all the sovereigns who 
had preceded him. lie appointed a committee of merchants 
for the purpose of developing the resources of British trade 
They first met in the Painted Chamber on the 27th Novem¬ 
ber, 1G55, and continued their labors until the day of his death. 

Everywhere we find the same impulse given by his potent 
hand. Southey acknowledges7hat Oliver’s “good sense and 



ANTIFOPERY OF ENGLAND. 


20? 


good nature would have led him to govern equitably and 
mercifully, to promote literature, to cherish the arts, and to 
pour vine and oil into the wounds of the nationand adds 
that the dangers to which he was exposed prevented him from 


can 


---- 

ryir.g out liis wishes.* If, however, he did not do all he de- 


riied, he still effected much.. The judges discharged their 
functions with equity ; the laws had their course, nothing be¬ 
ing allowed to prevent their execution ; the finances were ad¬ 
ministered with economy ; the army and the navy were paid 
regularly; and the arts of peace flourished throughout the 
length and breadth of the kingdom. 

o o 

The admiration was general: “ Cromwell,” says an histo¬ 
rian, “appeared like a blazing star, raised up by Providence 
to exalt this nation to a distinguished pitch of glory, and to 
strike terror into the rest of Europe.” 

France and Spain contended for his alliance ; he did not 
hesitate, and united with France. The treaty was signed on 
the 23d of October, IGod. Such were the respect and fear 
then inspired by England, that in this treaty he assumed 
among his other titles that of Protector of the kingdom of 
France, and his name preceded Louis the Fourteenth’s, who 
was allowed to style himself merely King of the French. 

While with the one hand Oliver secured to England an 
alliance with France, with the other he offered her the 
power and the treasures of Spain. Seeing that his country 
was called to take the place of that mighty peninsula, he dis¬ 
played no hesitation in his policy. Most certainly no one 
ever did more than he to accelerate the double ascending 
and descending movement then going on, and which was des¬ 
tined to reduce that kingdom to the humiliating weakness in 
which she is nov r sunk, and make England the Queen of 
Nations. When Spain solicited an alliance, he required two 
main conditions ; namely, that the trade to the West Indies 
and South America should be thrown open to bis flag, and the 
Repression of the Inquisition, so that every man might read 

* Life of Cromwell, p. 77. 
lb* 


210 


MORALITY, GLORY, AND 


the Bible and worship God as he pleased. \v hen the Spanish 
ambassador heard these two strange requests, he exclaimed 
in alarm: “ It is like asking for my master’s two eyes!” 

One of these eyes has lost Spain, and she herself has lost 
the other. 

In his opposition to that country Cromwell was guided by 
two motives. If he wished to ruin the strength of that state, 
it was not only with the intention of giving it to England, 
but of taking it away from the pope. Of these motives the 
second appears to have been the more powerful. “ \ our 
great enemy is the Spaniard,” said the Protector in his 
speech of the 17th of September, 1650 ; “he is naturally so 
throughout—bv reason of that enmitv that is in him against 

whatsoever is of God.An enmity is put into him by God. 

I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed; —which goes 
but for little among statesmen, but is more considerable than 

all things.No sooner did this nation form what is called 

(unworthily) the Reformed Religion,* after the death of 
Qi'e.en Mary, by the Queen Elizabeth of famous memory,— 
we need not be ashamed to call her so!—but the Spaniard’s 
design became, by all unworthy, unnatural means, to destroy 
that person, and to seek the ruin and destruction of these 

kingdoms.Here then is some little foundation laid to 

justify the war that has been entered upon with the Span- 
iard ! and not only so: but the plain truth of it is, Make any 
peace with any state that is popish and subjected to the 
determination of Rome and of the pope himself,—you are 
bound and they are loose. Peace is to be kept so long as 
the pope saith Amen to it. 

“All the honest interests; yea, all the interests of the 
Protestants, in Germany, Denmark, Helvetia, and the Can¬ 
tons, and all the interests in Christendom, are the same as 
yours. If you succeed, if you succeed well and act well, 
and 1 e convinced what is God’s interest, and prosecute it, 

' Crc^ivetl, it seems did not think the Anglican reform sufficiently 
complete to deserve that name. 






ANTIPOPERY OF ENGLAND. 


211 


you will find that you act for a very great many who are 
iPod’s own. Therefore, I say that your danger is from the 
common enemy abroad [Spain] ; who is the head of the 
papal interest, the head of the anticliristian interest. Except 
you will deny the truth of the Scriptures, you must needs 
see that that state is so described in Scripture [Ep. to Tliess. 
and. Rev.] to be papal and antichristian, I say, with this 
enemy, and upon this account, you have the quarrel witli the 
Spaniard.” * 

Thus in Cromwell’s views Rome was the antichristian 
spiritual power, and Spain the civil power by which she had 
long been abetted. There may be persons who will dispute 
that this can be found in the Apocalypse, but no ono will 
dispute that it is really found in history. The verdict of 
posterity has ratified his opinion. 

If the positive principle he gave to the British state was 
morality and faith, the negative principle was resistance to 
Popery. He held each of these in equal importance, for at 

bottom they concentre in one,.in the Gospel. With 

their aid England has seen the days of her exaltation ; when 
they are neglected, or set aside, then will come the day of 
her decline. 

While the Protector made war upon Spain, i.e was in re¬ 
ality fighting against Rome. This he did in England nos 4 
essentially by the development of the evangelical spirit. 
But he disdained not to cause her other alarms, and took 
advantage of every opportunity to make her sensible of his 
power. Admiral Blake was sent with a lieet into the Medi¬ 
terranean to obtain satisfaction from the Bey of Tunis for the 
losses of the British merchants from Turkish pirates. He sail¬ 
ed right into the harbor, and though the shore was planted 
with heavy guns, he burnt nine of the Turkish vessels, and 
brought the tyrant to reason. But he did not confine him¬ 
self to this mission : lie spread the terror of the English name 
over all Italy, even to Rome itself. The alarmed citizens, 

* Burton’s Diary, i. clviii. Carlyle, iii. 196-203. 



212 


MORALITY, GLORY, AND 


every moment fearfully expecting the arrival of Blake an:! 
his twenty-four ships, hastily put Civita Vecchia in a state 
of defence. At the same time, processions were made in the 
pontifical city; and the host was exposed for forty hours to 
avert the judgments of Heaven, and preserve the patiimony 
of St. Peter. 

Not long before, there had been great rejoicings in Rome, 
at the extirpation of Protestantism in Calabria and the Val- 
teline. Cromwell meditated retaliation: “ Their expected 
triumph/’ writes Mr. Pell to Secretary Thurloc, on the Oth 
of Juno, 1655, “would be turned into sad processions, if, 
instead of rooting out their old Italian inland churches, they 
ACiuld see an English colony planted in one of their sea- 
towns, which seems not impossible to be effected, if Englanl 
would but attempt it.”* It was not at Malta, as in the 
nineteenth century, but under the very walls of the pope, so 
to speak, that Cromwell then thought of making a settle¬ 
ment. 

“Set up your banners in the name of Christ,” the Pro¬ 
tector wrote to Vice-admiral Goodson, in October, 1655; 
“ for undoubtedly it is His cause. And let the reproach and 
shame that hath been for our sins, and through (also we may 
say) the misguidance of some, work up your hearts to con¬ 
fidence in the Lord, and for the redemption of His honor 
from the hands of men.” [Cromwell alludes to the failure 
of an expedition sent against the Spanish settlement of His¬ 
paniola,] “ ‘ Though He hath torn us, yet He will heal us; 
though, he hath smitten us, yet He will bind us up; after 
two days He will revive us* in the third day He will raise us 
up, and we shall live in His sight,’ (Hosea, vi. 1, 2.) 

“ The Lord himself hath a controversy with your enemies ; 
even with that Roman Babylon, of which the Spaniard is the 
great under-propper. In that respect, we fight the Lord’s 
battles ;—and in this the Scriptures are most plain. The 
Lord therefore strengthen you with faith, and cleanse you 
♦ Vaughan’s Protectorate,! 191. 


ANTIPOPERY OF ENGLAND. 


213 


from all evil: and doubt not but He is able, and 1 trust as 
■willing, to give you as signal success as He gave your ene¬ 
mies against you. Only the Covenant-fear of the Lord be 
upon you.”* 

It is the Protector’s glory that he discerned in Home the 
chief enemy to the liberty, prosperity, and piety of nations. 
This in our days is called prejudice and superstition. Severe 
lessons will teach the nations, to their cost, which of the two 
is right—their modern leaders, or the great man of the 
seventeenth century. 

Such was Oliver Cromwell. “ Lord of these three kintr- 
doms,” says Southey, “ and indisputably the most powerf d 
potentate in Europe, and as certainly the greatest man of an 
age in which the race of great men was not extinct in any 
country, no man was so worthy of the station which he filled.” 
His glory was not confined to Great Britain only ; it filled 
Europe, reached Asia, and was re-echoed from the shores 
of America. A French writer comparing Oliver with Na¬ 
poleon, says that the former was exclusively an English hero, 
whilst the latter carried his name into every quarter of the 
■world. It is true that Cromwell did not launch his destroy¬ 
ing legions into Spain and Russia, and even into Egypt. It 
is true that he thought it the highest excellence to live in 
Christ, to the end that God in all things might be glorified , 
and to bear, like Simon the Cyrenean, the cross and the 
shame of the Lord. But it is a grand mistake to suppose 
that his name was hardly known beyond the British isles. 
So great was his renown that it extended even to the distant 
plains of Asia, where the descendants of Abraham in agita¬ 
tion inquired of one another whether this was not the servant 
'jf the Lord whom they were looking for, and the branch 
promised to David (Jer. xxiii. 5). “ Such was the reputa¬ 
tion which Cromwell obtained abroad by his prodigious de¬ 
ration, the lofty tone of his government, and the vigor of 
ois anus, that an Asiatic Jew is said to have come to Eng- 
* Thurloe, iv. G33. Carlyle, iii. 157. 


214 


GLORY OF ENGLAND. 


land for the purpose of investigating his pedigree, thinking 
to discover in him the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”* 

With his own name Oliver spread afar the name of Eng¬ 
land, which he was the first to engrave on the distant land¬ 
marks of the nations. It is he who opened to his people 
that path of glory and of power, which their ships now 
traverse in every sea. The life of Britain, which had lost 
all vigor under the Stuarts, was aroused, electrified, as it 
were, by the same principle which animated its chief; and 
once more was seen the accomplishment of the ancient 
promise : The Lord thy God will set thee on high above all 
naGcns of the earth. 


* Southey's Life of Cromwell, 81. 




CHAPTER XII 

DEFENDER OF '1 HE FAITH. 

/ / 

JD&fon :o of Protestantism—Letter to a Protestant Prince -PieihnonteM 
?l is^a —The Protector interferes—Geneva—Cromwell’s Advice to 
the P/oh^ants—Portugal—France: Nismes—Intervention—Switzer- 
land—Germany—Austria—Council for the general Interests of Prot¬ 
estantism—The Protector’s living Christianity—The eternal Truths 
Pompeii, Niucvch, and the Bible. 

Cromwell was not satisfied with merely frightening the 
Pope in his own Babylon, and with directing his efforts in 
every quarter against the Roman power; he at the same 
time zealously pursued the great cause of the Reformation 
in Europe and in the world, and thus assigned to England 
that station as Queen of the Protestant world, which has 
been, and ever will be, her glory and her strength, so long 
as she shall remain true and faithful to this great calling. 
This was his third ruling passion,—religious liberty,—the 
greatness of England,—the prosperity of Protestantism. 
Where is the statesman that has ever had in view nobler 
and more beneficial objects ? 

He entertained the same affection for the several reformed 
churches abroad as for those of Great Britain. Writing to 
a Protestant prince, he congratulated him on his inviolable 
zeal for the evangelical churches,—“ A zeal the more worthy 
of praise, at a time when such flattering hopes are given to 
persons of your rank, if they will forsake the orthodox faith ; 
and where those who continue steadfast are threatened with 
so many troubles. I call God to witness (adds Cromwell) * 


210 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


that 1 desire nothing so much as an opportunity to answer 
the favorable opinion the churches have of my zeal and 
piety, by endeavoring to propagate the true faith, and pro¬ 
cure rest and peace for the Church. Hold firm to the or¬ 
thodox religion which you have received from vour fathers : 
nothing will bring you greater glory, than protect it as 
much as lies in your power.”* 

Cromwell thought it his vocation to be in the whole world 
what he was at home—the great champion of religious lib¬ 
erty. 

“His Highness,” wrote Secretary Thurloe, on \Le w ih of 
July. 1654, “ continues his ancient zeal to the Pi'*teslar.t re¬ 
ligion, whereof nobody need doubt nor have the Pro. scru¬ 
ple, but may build the greatest resolutions thereupou.”f A 
noble opportunity ere long occurred for proclaiming this to 
the whole world. 

On the 3rd of June, 1655, sad tidings reached England 
from Piedmont, and filled all Protestant hearts witli sorrow, 
but particularly that heart which beat strongest for the cause 
of the Gospel. The descendants of the Waldenses, those 
great evangelists of the Middle Ages, were living peaceably 
in the valleys of Lucerne, Peroza, and St. Martin, between 
Piedmont and Savoy. This very year a persecution broke 
out against them with inconceivable violence : the natural 
result of the desire to convert the heretics, occasioned by 
the great jubilee of 1650. To bring about this act of se¬ 
verity, the pope put forward a singular motive,—that the 
country of the Waldenses might be given to the Irish who 
were banished for their concern in the massacre of the Prot¬ 
estants in Ireland. 

Early in 1655 an order w'as sent from the court of Turin 
to the heads of the reformed families dwelling at La Torre, 
the little capital of the Vaudois, enjoining them to quit their 
homes within three days, and retire with their families to 

* Letter to the Prince of Tarente, quoted in Xeale. ii. 640 
f Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 21. 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


217 


certain districts that were assigned them. They were also 
required to prove within the space of twenty days, either 
that they had themselves become Romanists or had sold 
their property to Catholics. Many hundreds of families 
were compelled to flee in the midst of the rigors of winter. 
In the spring an army of 15,000 men entered their valleys. 
Twenty-two villages were reduced to ashes ; aged people of 
both sexes were burnt in their houses ; the men were hewn 
in pieces ; the women were impaled naked ; children were 
torn from their mothers’ arms, and their brains dashed out 
against the rocks. One hundred and fifty females were be- 
headed, and their heads were used in a game at bowls.* 

The bard of Paradise Lost, when he heard of this mas¬ 
sacre, seized his lyre, and called to God for vengearce in this 
noble strain:— 

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter’d saints, whose bones 
Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold; 

Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 

When all our fathers worshipt stocks and stones, 

Forget not; in thy book record their groans, 

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
Slain by. the bloody Piedmontese that roll’d 
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans* 

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 

To heaven. Their martyr’d blood and ashes sow, 

O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow 
A hundredfold, who, having lcarn’d thy way, 

Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 

In this terrible desolation the poor inhabitants of the val¬ 
leys first looked to God, and then to England. Their eyes 
were turned towards the Protector, and they said to one 
another, that no doubt he would show compassion to their 
churches, although they hardly dared implore his succor.f 

♦ Leger, Histoire des Vaudois.—YTllemain and Victor Hugo have 
confounded the Vaudois of Piedmont with the inhabitants of the Canton 
•>f Yaud in Switzerland. 

■f Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 140. 


10 



218 


DEFENDED OF THE FAITH. 


When the Protector received this sad intelligence, 1 e Durst 
mto tears. “ The sufferings of these poor people,” he said, 
lie as near, or rather nearer, to my heart, than if it had 
concerned the nearest relations I have in the world.” That 
very day he was to sign the treaty with France ; but lie re¬ 
fused to do so, until the king and Mazarin had bound them¬ 
selves to assist him in seeing justice done to these unfortu¬ 
nate inhabitants of the valleys. He sent them two thousand 
pounds from his own purse, and Milton was employed to ad¬ 
dress letters to all the Protestant states of Europe,. 

to the kings of Sweden and Denmark, to the United Prov¬ 
inces of Holland, to the reformed Cantons of Switzerland, 
and to the several churches of Germany and France. He 
wrote with his own hand to the French king, to Cardinal 
Mazarin, and to the Duke of Savoy. Finally, he appointed 
a dav cf fasting and humiliation, and a general collection all 
over England. This contribution amounted to £37,097, 7s. 
3d., a very large sum for that period. “ I believe we shall 
at length see the need we have of a union, and that a cor¬ 
dial one too,” wrote Secretary Thurloe, on the 25th of May 
1655, to Mr. Pell, the English minister in Switzerland; 
“ what is executed upon the poor Piedmontese is intended 
against us all, as they have opportunity and means.”* 

As soon as it was known on the Continent that Cromwell 
took the interests of the Waldenses so much to heart, the 
persecutors began to feel the greatest alarm. The Piedmon¬ 
tese, and their allies, already fancied they saw an English 
army landing from their ships and overrunning their country. 
In fact the English minister in Switzerland spoke of this de- 
si/n as of very easy execution, and to that end called for an 
alliance with the United Provinces.! This was Cromwell’s 
intention, and he insisted that the matter should be taken 
into serious consideration. “ To do it slightly,” wrote 
Thurbf: on the 8th of November 1655, “ will not be either 

* Vaughan’s Proctectorate, i. 183. 

| Pell to Thurloe; Vaughan’s Protectorate, i 2*22; 



DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


215 


honorable for us, or profitable for the people ; and the opin¬ 
ion here [at Whitehall] is, not to begin it unless there be 
resolution firm and fixed to go through with it effectually.”* 
In the meanwhile the Protector sent Samuel Morland to 
the Duke of Savoy with a letter, in which, after represent¬ 
ing the cruelty and injustice of the duke’s behavior to¬ 
wards the Protestants of the valleys, he added, “ that ho 
was pierced with grief at the news of the sufferings of the 
V audois, being united to them not only by the common ties 
of humanity, but by the profession of the same faith, which 
obliged him to regard them as his brethren ; and he should 
think himself wanting in his duty to God, to charity, and to 
his religion, it he should he satisfied with pitying them only 
(whose miserable condition w T as enough to raise compassion 
iii the most barbarous minds); unless he also exerted him¬ 
self to the utmost of his ability to deliver them out of it.” 

On the Continent there was no people that took a greater 
interest in the fate of the Waldenses than the Genevese. As 
soon as the new r s of the massacre reached their city, a fast- 
day was appointed (10th May, 1655), collections were made 
from house to house to send aid to the suffering brethren, 
and the garrison was augmented ; for it was thought tha 
Savoy was planning an attack on Geneva. Morland on his 
w'ay back from Turin stayed some time in that city, which 
was, so to speak, the centre of Crom'well’s protestant action 
on the Continent. Intelligence of the necessities of the re¬ 
formed churches was most frequently sent to England by 
Professor Tronchin, and money was forwarded to the Wal¬ 
denses through the hands of the banker, Mr. James Tronchin. 
The names of Colladon and Calandrini occur also in this 
correspondence. Mr. Pell, the English minister in Switzer • 
land, repaired in person to Geneva. He was in that city 'in 
the 12th of December, 1055, a day of thanksgiving in com¬ 
memoration of its deliverance, fifty-three years before, from 
the attempt of the Duke of Savoy ,to enter the town by 

* Letter to Pell, ibid, 291. 


2 gO 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITII. 


ladders in the night. After the morning sermon two of the 
senators took Fell over the fortifications, and showed _hin? 
their weakness on the side towards Savov, giving him to un- 
derstand that they hoped the Protector would furnish their 
with the means of completing these works. About a montl 
later, Cromwell replied by Thurloe, “ that he not onl} 
wished their welfare and prosperity with all his heart, bin 
would be ready to contribute to it as far as God should en 
able him.”* When Morland was recalled towards the end 
of the next year, the Protector renewed his assurances to the 
same effect. Geneva has always reckoned on the affection 
of the mighty and protestant England. 

The zeal of the English chief was crowned with success. 
Even Mazarin, at his instigation, wrote in the most pressing 
language to the court of Turin, and an agreement was 
signed at Pignerol, restoring religious liberty to the Walden- 
ses. There was not a potentate in Europe so bold as to 
dare expose himself to Cromwell’s displeasure by refusing 
his request. 

At the same time this Defender of the Protestant faith, 
wishing to give the pope and the petty princes of Italy a 
lesson calculated to strike them with terror, gave out, that 
as he was satisfied they had been the promoters of this per¬ 
secution, he would keep it in mind, and lay hold of the 
first opportunity to send his fleet into the Mediterranean to 
visit Civita Vecchia and other parts of the ecclesiastical ter¬ 
ritories, and that the sound of his cannon should be heard 
in Rome itself. He further declared publicly that he would 
not suffer the true faith to be insulted in any part of the 
world, f 

In his eyes (and he was one of the most clear-sighted of 
f laics,wen), this was not merely an isolated attack against 
Pi 'ttjS. ntism, but the first step of a general conspiracy 
whi ,h had for its object the annihilation of the reformed 

* Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 333. 

t Neale, Hist. Puritans, ii. C54, 055. 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


22} 


taith. lie often recurred to this idea, and orders were sent 
to all his foreign ministers to lay clearly before the evangel 
ical states the danger with which they were threatened. 

This he did more particularly in a letter of the '7th ol 
July, 1655, addressed to his minister in Switzerland. Sec¬ 
retary Thurloe writes thus to Mr. Pell:— 

“ I have formerly desired you would endeavor to under¬ 
stand fully and particularly what is the true mind and inten¬ 
tion of the Protestant cantons as to this business. It is 
certain that the design of crushing Protestantism was general; 
and to speak of the duke’s word in any agreement which 
shall be made is frivolous. The poor Protestants [of the 
valleys] ought to have another kind of security than that, 
and it is time for the Protestants in all the world to consider 
their own security also. If this does not awaken us, we are 
under a prejudicial slumber. The whole nation is with the 
Protector,” adds Thurloe.* 

With these views Cromwell stipulated in all his treaties 
for religious liberty in behalf of the Protestants. He re¬ 
quired of Portugal the free exercise of the evangelical faith; 
but he met with difficulties which gave him a fresh opportu¬ 
nity of expressing his sentiments with regard to the pope. 
On the 6th of May, 1656, he wrote in the following terms 
to the admirals Blake and Montague, then at sea:—“ In one 
of the articles agreed with the [Portuguese] ambassador, it 
was expressed, that the [English] merchants [in Portugal] 
should enjoy liberty of conscience in the worship of God in 
their own houses and aboard their ships; enjoying also the 
use of English Bibles, and other good books ; taking care 
that they did not exceed this liberty. Now, upon the send¬ 
ing of Mr. Meadows [under-secretary of state], unless we will 
ao-ree to submit this article to the determination of the pope 

O » f , 

we cannot have it; whereby he would bring us to an owning 
of the pope ; which, we hope, whatever befall us, we shall 

* Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 214. 

10 * 


22-; 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


not, by the grace of God, be brought unto.’ * Never was 
there statesman more derided than he with regard to the see 
of Rome. 

Nor did the Protector confine himself to one particular 
country. He showed 1 the same zeal for tlie Protestants of 
France as he had manifested for those of the valleys. 

From the commencement of the English revolution, the 
oppressed Huguenots began to be filled with hope, and to im¬ 
plore the succor of their British brethren. Bordeaux was 
at that time the centre of this Protestant resistance; and 
Mazarin was greatly alarmed at their proceedings. “I am 
assured,” wrote M. de Gentillot, one of his secret agents in 
London, “ that if the citizens of Bordeaux had plainly aban¬ 
doned the affections and interests of the princes and of 
royalty to look solely to their own liberty and to the interest 
of tho poor people, an alliance would undoubtedly have been 
formed with them.”f 

The example of England was a strong temptation to the 
French Protestants. They would willingly have trodden 
in the same paths of liberty and emancipation. A Scotch 
doctor, named More, appears to have encouraged them in 
this. In Lower Languedoc and at Bordeaux a project was 
formed for setting up a parliament of a hundred members, 
similar to that of England. More presented this manifesto 
to the Council of State in London in November, 1653, and 
entreated their support. 

Other agents sent by the Protector into France, seriously 
urged him to declare in favor of the oppressed and perse¬ 
cuted religion. The most influential French pastors corre¬ 
sponded with the heads of the Council of State in England. 
The fermentation and enthusiasm were ereneral throughout 
fill the south, and the Protestants, imagining the eve of 
their deliverance to be at hand, fasted and prayed pub* 

* Thurloe, iv. 708. Carlyle, lii. 175. 
f Revue Nouvelle, 1846, 403 


DEFENCE II OF THE FAITH 


223 


iicly for the preservation of the Protector, calling him 
plainly “ their only hope next to God !”* 

But Cromwell was no less prudent than brave. He knew 
that if he should inconsiderately lend his aid to the Protest¬ 
ants, he might by that very step cause their total ruin. He 
called to mind the saying of our Lord : What king, going to 
make war against another king, sittcth not down first, and 
< msulteth whether he he able with ten thousand to meet him 
that cometh against him with twenty thousand ? 

Among the agents of the Foreign Office was one Stonpe, 
a Orison by birth, then minister of the French church in the 
Savoy, and afterwards brigadier-general in the French 
armies, an intriguing man, and who, says Bishop Burnett, 
who knew him well, was only a Protestant in outward ap¬ 
pearance. The Protector believed, and, as it appears, with 
reason, that such a person might be very serviceable in this 
affair. He was summoned to Whitehall. “ You will make 
a tour through France,” said Cromwell to him ; “you will 
communicate with the chief Protestants ; you will carefully 
examine into the resources of the Huguenot party, into their 
present disposition, the oppressions they lie under, and their 
inclinations to trust the Prince of Conde. You will assure 
the reformed of our zeal and our care to procure them lib¬ 
erty of faith; but,” added lie, “ you will talk to them 
merely as a traveller.” 

Stoupe departed. He reached Paris, descended the Loire, 
arrived at Bordeaux, visited Montauban, and traversed the 
south of France on his way to Lyons. He was astonished 
at all lie saw. Mazarin, influenced by his awe of Cromwell, 
took care that the edicts in favor of the Protestants should 
be observed with an exactitude till then unknown. “ We are 
not discontented,” was the general icply to Stoupe, “and 
we are not inclined to rise. We have no confidence in the 
Prince of Conde ; he is an ambitious man, ever ready to 

* See the dispatch of M. de Bordeaux, envoy of the King of France, 
to M. de Brienne, ibid. 


DEFENDER Or' THE FAITH. 


2 24 

sacrifice all his friends and every cause he espouses to hio 
r Fn projects of greatness.” 

Stoupe made his report to the Protector, and it was suffi¬ 
cient to decide Cromwell.* He understood that it was by 
ether means he should come to the support of the Protest¬ 
ants,—fcv his moral influence and not by his armies ; and tc 
; his he turned his attention. 

In May, 1654, Secretary Tliurloe wrote to Mr. Pell: 
“There are great endeavors used by the French to make an 
alliance here, but no progress is made therein as yet; nor 
will there be, without making full provision for the Protest¬ 
ants, and that you may be confident upon on all occasions.”! 
The French ambassador positively refused “that those of 
the reformed religion in France should have the exercise of 
their religion as full as they ought by any law granted.” 
“ If he persists in his resolution,” writes Thurloe on the 14th 
of July in the same year, “ little is to be expected from the 
tieaty;” and he adds on the 24th of November, “ his High¬ 
ness is very willing to accommodate things with France, but 
cannot for any outward advantage do that which is prejudi¬ 
cial to the Protestants, nor forsake their interests.” 

In 1656 there happened a quarrel between the'reformed 
citizens of Nismes and the magistrates and bishop of the 
cit}r. The intendant of the province having interfered, a dis¬ 
turbance broke out, of which an account was immediately 
sent to court. The Protestants submitted and begged par¬ 
don ; but the minister, delighted with the opportunity, re¬ 
solved to ruin them. Upon this they dispatched a messen¬ 
ger privately to Cromwell, and begged his interposition. 
After giving audience to their delegate, he bade him “ re¬ 
fresh himself after so long a journey, and he would take 
such care of his business that by the time he came to Paris 
he should find it dispatched.” Accordingly, an express was 


* Burnet, 89, 90. Lond. 1753. 

J Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 2, 21. 


DEF£\W». OF Til’s .FAITH. 


22& 


immediately sent off wish <2 I°.Per to the King of France, 
under cover of the following A c Caidiral Mazarin. 


“To his Eminence ihe Tor i 


Cardinal Mazarin, 


Having thought necessary to despatch this gentleman 
to the hing with tiie inclosed letter, I commanded him to 
salute your Eminence on my pert: and ha^irg charged him 
to communicate to you certain affairs which I have intrusted 
him with : I therefore pray your Highness to give credit to 
what he shall say, having an entire confidence in him. 

“ T our Eminence’s most affectionate 

“ Olivfr Crcmwbll, 

“ Protector of the Commonwealth of England, if- 
“ Whitehall, Dec. 28th, lG5f>.” 


He moreover added the following postscript in bis onn 
hand :— 

“ I have been informed of the tumult at Nismes: ; 
recommend to your Highness the interest of the reformed.”* 

At the same time the Protector forwarded instructions to 
his ambassador at Versailles, commanding him to insist 
peremptorily “ that the tumult of Nismes be forgiven,” or 
else immediately to leave the country. Mazarin complained 
of this usage as being too high and imperious; but at the 
same time, he stood in so much awe of the English ruler, 
that he changed countenance whenever he heard his name 
mentioned ; and it was a current saying in France, that the 
cardinal was more afraid of Cromwell than of the devil. 
The French court gave way, and sent orders to the intendant 
to make up matters at Nismes as well as he could. 

Had Cromwell’s spirit animated the English government 
in our days, the iniquity of Otaheite would never have been 
committed ; and we should not have seen the priest-party in 
France inveighing, on the one hand, against the three north- 
• Neale, ii. GG8. See also Clarendon’s Rebellion, end of book xv. 


226 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


ern yowers for annihilating the independence of Craocv/, 
and, tn the other, making war upon a people who have never 
known a master, and who, a* regards moral power and polit¬ 
ical and religious life, are certainly far superior to the Cro- 
covian citizens. The energy with which this little nation ha'i 
held in check for several years the people who consider 
themselves the first in the world, is a pretty clear proof that 
it ccservcs to be independent. The priest-party of France, 
by protesting against the occupation of Cracow r and by pro¬ 
voking the assault on Otalieite, has had the unenviable honor 
of furnishing the civilized world with the most notorious 
example in modern times of that blindness which strains at a 

JL 

anat and swallows a camel . 

Oliver carried into practice in the seventeenth century 
that famous motto which was the glory of one of the great¬ 
est Englishmen of the nineteenth. civil and religious 

liberty in all the world . Practice, in our opinion, is much 
better than theory; but the exam ole set by the Protector, 
which had no precedent, has unfortunately met with no 
imitation. The French Protestants were abandoned, both at 
the peace of Ryswick in 1697, and again at that of Utrecht 
in 1713, although hundreds of Huguenots were perishing in 
dungeons or groaning on board the galleys. If Cromwell’s 
spirit had continued to govern England, the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes w r ould never have taken place. May 
we be permitted to pay a feeble tribute of esteem to the 
great man who was the protector of our ancestors, and who 
would have been the indicator of Protestant France if he 
had lived, or if he had survived in successors worthy of him. 

His attachment to the great cause of Evangelical Prot- 

O O 

pstantism extended over all Europe. In Switzerland, for 
instance, he endeavored to arouse and reanimate the interests 
of the Reformation. “You stand so much in awe of your 
popish neighbors,” said his minister in May, 1655, to the 
Evangelical Swiss, “ that you dare not budge a foot in favor 
of any Protestant church, lest the popish cantons should fall 



DEFENDER OF THE FA 1 III, 


227 


upon you. If Geneva should need you, the greater number 
among you would answer, We cannot, for want of money! 
We dare not, for fear of our popish neighbors !”* 

Cromwell, knowing at the same time that the Romish 
cantons were strongly supported by the princes of their 
faith, ordered his minister (22d February, 165G,) “ to assist 
the evangelical cantons to make a good and honorable peace, 
and to that end to counterbalance by his endeavors the 
interposition of the public ministers of other princes, who 
may be partial to the popish cantons.”f 

lie interposed also in Germany in defence of the religious 
liberty of the reformed states. In a Latin letter from a 
very considerable person, which was forwarded to Cromwell 
in January, 1655, we read: “The whole popish cohort is 
plotting against us and ours. W r e must consider and inquire 
into everything with prudence. We must deliberate on the 
means to be employed for our common preservation; for we 
know the aim of all our Babylonian adversaries. The Lord 
of Hosts be the Protector of the Protector and of the 
Church.”J This writer added : “ The persecution continues 
in Austria and in Bohemia, and it is very easy to foresee a 
general league of the Papists against the Protestants of Ger¬ 
many and Switzerland.” 

•/ 

Against this, Oliver made provision. If he could not 
reach them with the arm of his power, he sent them proofs 
at least of his sympathy. Collections were made by his 
order in behalf of the persecuted Protestants of Bohemia ; 
and again in 1657, when delegates from the Polish and Sile¬ 
sian Protestants arrived in England complaining of the per¬ 
secutions directed against them, public subscriptions wo' : 

* Vaughan’s Protectorate, i. 181, 182. f Ibid* h 355. 

£ Tota cohors papistica veram molitur conjuvationcm in nostros, in 
nos. Omnia prudentur consideranda, penetranda. Deliberandum de 
modis conservations mutuae; quia scopum adversariorum Babylonico- 

run scimus.Sit Deus Zabaoth Protector Proteetoris et Ecclesisa. 

Vaughan’s Protectorate, i 114. 



DEFENDED. OF THE FAITH. 


:*28 

immediately opened in their favor throughout the wtJ.e 
country.* 

Desirous of giving regularity to all these movements, 
Cromwell conceived the idea of a great institution in favor 
of the evangelical faith. He proposed to unite all the vari¬ 
ous members of the Protestant body, and by this means 
>lace them in a condition to resist Rome, which was at that 
time preparing for conquest. To this end he resolved to 
found a council for the General Interests of Protestantism, 
and he was probably led to this idea by the establishment 
of the Roman congregation for the propagation of the faith. 
He divided the Protestant world out of England into four 
provinces : the first included France, Switzerland, and the 
Piedmontese valleys; the second comprised the Palatinate 
and other Calvinistic countries ; the third, the remainder of 
Germany, the north of Europe, and Turkey; the colonies of 
the East and West Indies (Asia and America) formed the 
fourth. The council was to consist of seven members and 
four secretaries, who were to keep up a correspondence 
with all the world, and inquire into the state of religion 
everywhere, to the intent that England might suitably direct 
her encouragement, her protection, and her support. The 
vearly sum of £10,000, with extraordinary supplies in case 
of need, was to be placed at the disposal of the council, 
*diose sittings were to be held in Chelsea College.f 

No doubt many objections might be urged against this 
plan. It was perhaps to be feared that, in certain cases, 
such diplomatic interposition might : njure the spiritual char¬ 
acter and true life of the reformed religion. But Cromwell’s 
chief object was to maintain religious liberty in all the world 
as he was maintaining it in England. It is right that' the 
Protestants on the Continent should know what a friend they 
had in the illustrious Protector. A Catholic historian, one 
of those who have perhaps the least appreciated his Christian 
character, cannot here repress a movement of admiration. 

4 Yan^harA Pictectorate. ii. 258. t Burnet i. 108 


DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


229 


“ W hen we think of tne combats of the Protestant religion 
against the Catholic faith,” says M. Villemain, “ it was un¬ 
doubtedly a noble and a mighty thought to claim for him¬ 
self the protection of all the dissident sects, and to regulate 
in a fixed and durable manner the support which England 
had granted them on more than one occasion. If it had not 
been interrupted by death, Cromwell would no doubt have 
resumed a design so much in accordance with his genius, and 
which his power would have allowed him to attempt with 
courage.” 

Such was the Protector’s activity. In every place he 
showed himself the true Samaritan, binding up the wounds 
of those who had fallen into the hands of the wicked, and 

pouring in oil and wine.He is the greatest Protestant 

that has lived since the days of Calvin and Luther. More 
than any other sovereign of England he deserved the glorious 
title of Defender of the Faith. 

Cromwell was something more than the champion of an 
outward and official Protestantism. Had his task been 
limited to that, it would excite but little sympathy in us, 
and it would have produced no very great results. None 
perhaps compromise true Protestantism so much as those 
who, forgetful of the spiritual nature of the movement of 
the sixteenth century, reduce it to a mere political system. 
The Protestantism of the reformers is the evangelism of the 
apostles, neither more nor less. Let us beware of making 
it a mongrel existence, half-spiritual and half-secular. Crom¬ 
well employed his power to protect religious liberty in all 
Europe; but the origin of his foreign activity is found in 
the fact of his having felt in his own soul the truth of this 
scripture : Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 

The ancient religious life of the Reformation was lost: it 
had been replaced by an attachment to forms. Men care¬ 
fully inquired whether there was or was not apostolical suc¬ 
cession ; they examined whether the prayers, the sacraments, 
and the worship were in conformity with the canons and 

20 



DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 


2.*?0 


with the liturgy; they placed their hands everywhere to try 
all things—everywhere except on their own heart—to feel 
if it still beat. They were earnestly occupied with con¬ 
formities ; but they forgot one,—that which renders man 
conformable to Jesus Christ. 

A religious revival took place; truth and the Christian 
life reappeared. A dry orthodoxy, a clerical system, was 
followed by a Christianity as fruitful as it was sincere 
Oliver is one of those in whom this spiritual revolution was 
the most striking. In every page of his history we meet 
with proofs of his faith. Rarely has there appeared in the 
world a heart that beat so strongly for everlasting truth. 

This faith, of which Oliver constituted himself the de¬ 
fender, cannot perish. It may be covered and hidden, at 
one time by the arid sands of infidelity, and at another by 
the tumultuous waves of human passions, or by the images, 
surplices, and relics of superstition ;—but it always revives, 
lifts up its head, and reappears. The revelations of God 
are for all times, and they have in all ages the same eternal 
truth, the same eternal beauty. They are like those rocks 
in the midst of the ocean, which the flood-tide covers, and 
which seem swallowed up forever, but which always raise 
their tops again above the waters. In vain does one gene¬ 
ration imagine it has hidden the everlasting rock of God’s 
iruth; it will become visible in the next. There is a con¬ 
tinual alternation, a constant struggle between light and 
darkness ; but the light prevails at last. And even should 
there come an age which fancies it has forever buried God's 
truth,—should any volcanic eruption of society overwhelm 

h with the ashes of another Vesuvius,.Pompeii after 

seventeen centuries has again restored to the light of day its 
houses and its tombs, its palaces and its temples, its circus 
. and its amphitheatres. Can it be thought that the truth 
and the life, which God has given in His Gospel, will be less 
perennial than the frail tenements of man ? There are per- 
hans now subterranean fires threatening the truth of God. 



L/Ei’ENDER 0E THE FA.TTH 


231 


A. daring pantheistic and socialist philosophy imagines Eat 
it has done with the crucified One. And should it even 
so far succeed as to throw a little dust and lava on the 
eternal doctrine, the Lord of Heaven will blow upon it, and 
the dust shall be scattered and the'lava be melted. 

Cromwell, as a Christian, is the representative of one of 
those epochs in which the light reappears after darkness, ac¬ 
cording to the device of a city which shone forth with a new 
and great brightness in the days of the Reformation.* It 
was not to England alone that he wished to restore the doc¬ 
trine of the Gospel; he put his candle on a candlestick, and 
the house which he desired by this means to illumine was 
Europe,—nay, the whole world. He has been compared to 
Bonaparte, and there are, indeed, striking features of re¬ 
semblance between them. Neither was satisfied with con ¬ 
fining himself to his own country alone, and both exerted 
their activity abroad. But while Napoleon bore to other 
nations French tyranny and indifference, Cromwell would 
have given them religious liberty and the Gospel. The 
evelasting revelations having reappeared in England and re¬ 
ceived the homage of a whole people, it was Cromwell’s 
ambition to present them to the entire world. He did not 
succeed, and to the majority of European countries the Bible 
is a book hidden in the bowels of the earth. But this noble 
design, which Oliver could not accomplish, has again been 
undertaken in our own days on the banks of the Thames. 
The revelations of God are printed in the language of every 
people. The time will come when the thick veil, which still 
hides these sacred characters from so many nations, shall be 
rent at last. The massive walls, the proud courts, the mag¬ 
nificent porches of Nineveh are now rising from beneath the 
;ands of the desert. Its inscriptions, numbering two, three, 
ind four thousand years, are reappearing to the eyes of the 
licilized and astonished children of the distant aiA barbarous 

* Post tenebrox lux is the motto of Geneva: on its shield is t’so a sun 
'earing in its centre the name of Jesus, I. H. S. 


232 


DEFENDER OF TIIE FAITH. 


Europe, and the light of day once more falls upon th * 
antique characters traced by Ninus, Sardan&palus, or Nabo- 

polassar!.The books which Moses began, not ess 

ancient than these Assyrian inscriptions, possess, we may be 
sure, more vitality than they ; and future ages, by giving tc 
Europe religious liberty, will realize the mighty plan which 
Cromwell could not accomplish. 



CHAPTER XIII. 


THE KINGSIIIi’. 


New Parliament— Ludlow —The Protector’s Speech -Exclusions— Pr> 
posals about the Kingship—Discussions on this Subject between the 
Parliament and the Protector—Struggles—Cromwell’s Refusal—Wa* 
he right'?—His character—Ambition. 

Tiie Protector could not perform all these various ta^ks 
vithout difficulty. Notwithstanding* the religious liberty he 
gave to England at home, and the glory with which he en¬ 
circled her name abroad, the strict republicans were discon¬ 
tented, and often told him to his face that his government 
was illegitimate, and that they and their friends had not been 
lavish of their blood for the purpose of enthroning anew tho 
power of one man. 

In 1G56, he determined to call a new Parliament. This 
was necessary for the approval of hostilities with Spain, and 
for obtaining the needful supplies. But he feared that the 
republicans, who were determined to oppose everything, 
would vote against this war—a war so glorious in his eyes 
and so advantageous to England. Tie accordingly sent for 
Major-general Ludlow, the leader of this party, and required 
him to give security not to act against the present govern¬ 
ment. Ludlow answered, “ I desire to have the nation gov¬ 
erned by its own consent.’'—“And so do I,” replied Oliver; 
“ but where shall we find that consent; among the prelatical, 
presbyterian, independent, anabaptist, or levelling parties ?” 
—“ Among those of all sorts,” rejoined the other, ' who 
nave acted with fidelity and affection to the public ' Th<? 

20 * 


234 


HIE KINGSHIP. 


Protector feeling convinced that Ludlow was for throwing 
England again into confusion, said to him : “ All men now 
enjoy as much liberty and protection as they can desire; and 
I am resolved to keep the nation from being imbrued again 
in blood. I desire not,” he continued, “ to put any more 
hardships upon you than upon myself; nor do I aim at any¬ 
thing by this proceeding but the public quiet and security. 
As to my own circumstances in the world, I have not much 
improved them, as these gentlemen (pointing to his council) 
well know.”* All that he said was strictly true. After a 
revolutionary storm, liberty exists most of all in order; and 
to possess -rder there must be strength. 

Wh- the Parliament met according to appointment on 
the 17th of September, 1056, T)r. Owen, vice-chancellor of 
Oxiord, preached a sermon before them in Westminster Ab 
bev, from the text: What shall one then answer the messen- 
(jers of the nation? that the Lord hath founded Zion , and the 
poor of His people shall trust in it (Isaiah xiv. 32). It was 
not only the poor of her own people, but the poor of other 
nations that trusted in the protection of England. Voices 
mijr 1 1 be heard from the shores of France and from the lofty 
mlrnys of the Alps, replying to this sermon: “Yea, verily, 
Amen!” 

The members having adjourned to the Painted Chamber, 
the Protector took off his hat and delivered one of the no¬ 
blest, most sensible, energetic, and religious speeches ever 
uttered by a statesman. After touching in succession upon 
Spain, the Papists, the Levellers, the equality of all sects, on 
the reformation of morals, and on the necessity of prompt 
and extraordinary remedies for sudden and extraordinary 
maladies, he concluded in the following words:— 

“ Therefore I beseech you in the name of God, set your 
hearts to this work. And if you set your hearts to it, then 
vou will sing Luther’s Psalm (Ps. xlvi). That is a rare 
Psalm for a Christian!—and if he set his heart open, and 

* Neale, ii 658. 


THE KINGSHIP. 


can approve it to God, we shall hear him say : God is our 
refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. 
If Pope and Spaniard, and Devil and all set themselves 
against us,—though they should compass us like bees, as it is 
in the hundred and eighteenth Psalm,—yet in the name of 
the Lord we should destroy them! And, as it is in this 
Psalm of Luther’s, We will not fear, though the earth be re¬ 
moved, and though the mountains be carried into the middle 
of the sea ; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled ; 
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There 
is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of 
God. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. Then 
the Psalmist repeats two or three times, The Lord of Host is 
with us ; the God of Jacob is our ref uge .” 

Cromwell did well in thus recalling Luther to mind. We 
fancy we can hear the reformer in the castle of Coburg dur¬ 
ing the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. In political views there 
was the most marked distinction between these two great 
men; but in more essential things, and in their opposition to 
the papacy, modern history does not present us with two 
more similar minds. 

“ I have done,” continues Oliver. “ All I have to say is. 
To pray God that He may bless you with His presence ; that 
He who hath your hearts and mine would show His presence 
in the midst of us.—I desire vou will cm together, and choose 
your Speaker.”* 

The Protector, remembering what had happened before, 
and how easy it was for a few minds, unfriendly to order, to 
disturb the state, was resolved to take such measures as he 
judged best to prevent the Parliament from thwarting his 
views and checking the prosperity and glory of England. 
To this end he had recourse to a step which in our days 
would excite a just a.stonishment. A guard was placed at 
the door of the house, and no one was allowed to enter with- 

* Burton’s Diary, i. 158. Letters and Speeches, iii. 238. 


THE KINGSlIir. 


.463 

out a certificate from the council. By this means about a 
hundred members were excluded. 

Oliver’s penetration was unequalled: liis sagacity and 
knowledge of mankind were most remarkable. If there was 
a man in England who excelled in any faculty or science, he 
found him out, and rewarded him according to his merit. 
But he also knew his private enemies and those of the pub¬ 
lic prosperity, and his firm hand either put them aside or 
kept them down. This he showed in the case in question. 
He consented, however, to give a pledge for the freedom of 
the national representation. It was agreed that for the 
future no member should be excluded from parliament ex¬ 
cept by a vote of the house. The war with Spain was 
approved of, and supplies to the amount of £400,000 were 
voted to carry it on. 

If we allow, as we are bound to do, that the measure 
employed by Cromwell was inconsistent with the freedom 
of parliament and with the principles of constitutional gov¬ 
ernment, we must also ackowledge that these stretches of 
power were at that time necessary to the stability of his 
authority, and that without these somewhat despotic acts, 
the nation would inevitably have been again involved in war 
and confusion. Above all, we should remember that the 
necessary check upon representative governments—an upper 
house—no longer existed in England. The right, therefore, - 
which he claimed of rejecting a portion of the represent¬ 
atives, must in his mind have been intended to supply the 
want of a House of Lords. There was, therefore, a constitu¬ 
tional element in this measure of exclusion. 

The beginningof the year 1G57 nearly realized the gloomy 
foresight of Cromwell. One of the chief levellers, Quarter¬ 
master Sindercombe, after several ineffectual attempts at 
assassination, endeavored to set fire to Whitehall. He was 
apprehended, but eluded his punishment by taking poison. 
Parliament went in a body to offer their congratulations to 


THE KINGSHIP. 


23 : 


the Protector on his escape from danger, to which he replied 
with his usual good sense and piety.* 

It was noAv felt necessary to settle the order and pros¬ 
perity of England on a more solid basis ; and many even rff 
the republicans felt that royalty was essential to so de¬ 
sirable an end. r J he initiative in this matter did not proceed 
from Cromwell, but from the Parliament. Colonel Jephson, 
one of the members for Ireland, moved that the Protector 
should have the crown, with the title of King, and was sec¬ 
onded by Alderman Pack, one of the representatives for the 
city of London. When the Protector was informed of this, 
says the republican Ludlow, he mildly reprimanded the 
colonel one day at table, and said to him: “ 1 cannot im¬ 
agine what you were thinking of, when you made such a 
motion.” Upon Jephson’s replying that he begged the 
liberty to follow the impulse of his conscience, Oliver patted 
him on the shoulder, saying: “ Go, go! you are mad.” The 
strict republicans opposed the motion with great vehemence, 
Lamber, Desborough, and Fleetwood, Cromwell’s son-in-law, 
taking the lead. These men, who belonged to his family 
and enjoyed his friendship, “ confidently undertook to know,” 
says Clarendon, “ that Oliver would never consent to it; and 
therefore it -was very strange that any men should importune 
the putting such a question.” But as the majority of the 
lawyers, -whose opinions in such a matter must have had 
great weight, declared in favor of royalty, the motion passed. 

On the 31st of March, the House of Commons presented 
a petition to the Protector, inviting him to take the title and 
office of king, which, said the Parliament, would be most 
conformable to the latvs and temper of the people of Eng¬ 
land. Cromwell prayed for time to deliberate on their re 
quest: “ I have lived the latter part of my age in the fire ; in 
the midst of troubles,” said he. “ But all the things that 
have befallen me since I was first engaged in the affairs of 
this Commonwealth would not so move my heart and spirit 
* Speech vi. in Carlyle, iii. ‘254. &c. 


«< t t rr 
» -« 


KJNUSHlf 



y 


with that fear and reverence of God that becomes a Chris¬ 
tian, as this thing that hath now been offered by you to me. 

•‘And should I give any resolution in this matter sud¬ 
denly, without seeking to have an answer put into my heart, 
and so into my mouth, by Him that hath been my God and 
my guide hitherto,—it would savor more to be of the flesh, 
to proceed from lust, to arise from arguments of self. And 
if my decision in it have such motives in me, it may prov e 
even a curse to you and to these three Nations.”* 

Three days after (on Friday, 3d April, 1657) a committee 
of the house, among whom were Lord Broghil, General Mon¬ 
tague, the Earl of Tweeddale, Whitelocke, and others, hav¬ 
ing waited on the Protector, he said to them: “ I return 
the Parliament my grateful acknowledgment. But I must 
needs say, that that may be fit for you to offer, which may 
not be fit for me to undertake. I am not able for such a 
.'rust and charge.” 

On the 11th of April, the committee, nominated by Tar- 
liament to present their reasons in favor of the petition of 
the house, attended at Whitehall. Lord Whitelocke, Lord 
Chief-justice Glyn, Lenthall, once speaker of the long parlia¬ 
ment, and several others, spoke in turn. The latter main¬ 
tained that the title of Protector was unknown to the Eng¬ 
lish Constitution: Nolumus leges Anglice mutari! exclaimed 
lie. Oliver required time for reflection. 

The latter motive could not fail to have great weight with 
him. He also -was unwilling that the laws of England 
should be changed, and notwithstanding all appearances to 
the contrary, he had at heart a strong conservative feelino*. 
When he sacrificed trifling things, it was to preserve greatei 
ones. Protestantism and liberty were in his eyes the law, 
and as it were the essence, of England. In comparison with 
these a prince and a dynasty -were mere accidents. The 
wnole question resolves itself into this : In a nation what 
must we preserve—essential or secondary things ? 

* Burton’s Diary, i. 413. Carlyle, iii. 271. 


I’TfK &1NOSI1!!-. 


230 


Oa the 13th of April a committee of nixety-nine attended 
again at the palace, when the Protector delivered his eleventh 
recorded speech. On the one hand he felt all the force of 
the reasons urged by Parliament, and more particularly by 
the lawyers ; but, on the other, he considered it his d-jty 
not to alienate the godly men with whose help he had re¬ 
stored peace and order to England. 

“ I undertook the place I am now in,” said he, “ not so 
much out of hope of doing any good, as out of a desire to 
prevent mischief and evil,—which I did see was imminent 
on the nation. I say, we were running headlong into con¬ 
fusion and disorder, and would necessarily have run into 
blood; and I was passive to those that desired me to under¬ 
take the place which I now have. 

“ And therefore I am not contending for one name com¬ 
pared with another ;—and therefore have nothing to answer 
to any arguments that w r ere used for preferring the name 
kingship to protectorship. For I should almost think any 
name were better than my name; and I should altogether 
think any person fitter than I am for such business ; and I 
compliment not, God knows it. 

“ But this I should say, that I do think, you, in the set¬ 
tling of the peace and liberties of this nation, which cries as 
loud upon you as ever nation did for somewhat that may 
beget a consistence, ought to attend to that; otherwise the 
nation will fall in pieces! And in that so far as I can, I am 
ready to serve not as a king, but as a constable, if you like ! 
For truly I have, as before God, often thought that I could 
not tell what my business was, nor what I was in the place 
I stood in, save comparing myself to a good constable set to 
keep the peace of the parish. 

“ I say, therefore, I do judge for myself there is no such 
necessity of this name of king. 

I must say a little; I think I have somewhat of con¬ 
science to answer as to the matter, and I shall deal seriouslr 
as before God. 


240 


THE KINGSHIP. 


*■ If you do not all of you, I am sure some of you do, and 
it behooves me to say that I do ‘ know my calling from the 
first to this day.’ I was a person who, from my first em¬ 
ployment, was suddenly preferred and lifted up from lesser 
trusts to greater; from my first being a captain of a troop 
of horse; and did labor as well as I could to discharge my 
trust; and God blessed me therein as it pleased Him. And 
I did truly and plainly—and in a way of foolish simplicity, 
as it was judged by very great and wise men, and good men 
too—desire to make my instruments help me in that work. 
1 had a very worthy friend then ; and he was a very noble 
person, and I know his memory is very grateful to all,—Mr. 
John Hampden. At my first going out into this engagement 
[enterprise], I saw our men were beaten at every hand. I 
did indeed; and desired him that he would make some addi¬ 
tions to my Lord Essex’s army, of some new regiments; and 
I told him I would be serviceable to him in brinjxinof such 
men in as I thought had a spirit that would do something 
in the work. This is very true that I tell you; God knows 
I lie not. ‘Your troops,’ said I, ‘are most of them old de¬ 
cayed serving-men and tapsters, and such kind of fellows; 
and,’ said I, ‘their troops are gentlemen’s sons, younger 
sons, and persons of quality: do you think that the spirits 
of such base and mean fellows will ever be able to encountei 
gentlemen, that have honor, and courage, and resolution in 
them? You must get men of a spirit; and take it not ih 
what I say,—I know you will not,—of a spirit that is likely 
to go on as far as gentlemen will go:—or else you will be 
beaten still.’ I told him so; I did truly. He was a wise 
and worthy person ; and he did think that I talked a good 
notion, but an impracticable one. Truly I told him I could 
do somewhat in it. I did so, and the result was,—impute it 
to what you please,—I raised such men as had the fear of 
God before them, as made some conscience of what they 
did; and from that day forward, I must say to you, they 
were nev w beaten, and wherever they were engaged against 


THE KINGSHIl*. 


24, 


the enemy, they beat continually. And truly this is mattei 
of praise to God: and it hath some instruction in it, to own 
men who are religious and godly. And so many of them 
as arc peaceably, and honestly, and quietly disposed to live 
within rules of government, and will be subject to those Gos¬ 
pel rules of obeying magistrates—I reckon no godliness 
without that circle ! Without that spirit it is diabolical,—it 
is devilish,—it is from diabolical spirits,—from the depth of 
Satan’s "wickedness. 

“ I will be bold to apply this [what I said to Mr. Hamp¬ 
den] to our present purpose; because there are still such 
men in this nation; godly men of the same spirit, men that 
will not be beaten down by a worldly or carnal spirit while 
they keep their integrity. And I deal plainly and faithfully 
with you, when I say: I cannot think that God "would bless 
an undertaking of anything [kingship or whatever else, 
which would, justly and with cause, grieve them. I know 
that very generally good men do not swallow this title. K 
is my duty and my conscience to beg of you that there may 
be no hard things put upon me; things, I mean, hard to 
them, which they cannot swallow. By showing a tenderness 
even possible (if it be their weakness) to the weakness of 
those who have integrity, and honesty, and uprightness, you 
will be the better able to root out of this nation all those 
who think their virtue lies in despising and opposing au¬ 
thority.”* 

Tims did Cromwell, although struck undoubtedly by the 
lumerous and powerful reasons urged by Parliament for 
substituting the title of King for that of Protector, refuse to 
accept it. He was prevented by the fear of offending the 
honest republicans, whom he might so easily have reduced 
to silence, and of injuring the prosperity of England. There 
was much to be said on both sides. Clarendon informs us, 
that if he had once been made king he would have received 
the allegiance of most of the royalists, of which he had been 
* Somers’ Tracts, vi. 3G5. Carlyle, iii. 3Q5-3J0. 

21 



242 


TIIF. KINGSHIP 


assured by several of the principal nobility. But Cromwell 
could not resolve to alienate his old friends, even should he 
gain over his former enemies. A man of power has rarely 
shown such condescension to the opinions of others, at the 
very moment, too, when he thinks them ill founded. Ihese 
are not the manners of a despot. 

The struggle between him and the Parliament still con- 
tinued. The great committee of ninety-nine did not consider 
itself beaten, and returned seriously to the contest. On the 
16th of April, another conference took place. Whitelocke 
urged on the Protector, that by refusing the crown he would 
do what king of England had never done,—reject the advice 
of his Parliament. Another of the committee declared that 
it Avas his duty to accept, and added, that he ought by no 
means to shrink from his duty. Others put fonvard many 
weighty arguments, but Oliver would not give way. 

On the 20th of April, there was a new conference, in 
which the Protector refuted the reasonings of the lGth. 
He said, “ I have not desired the continuance of my power 
or place either under one title or another. I speak not this 
vainly or as a fool, but as to God. If the wisdom of this 
Parliament should have found a way to settle the interests 
of this nation, upon the foundations of justice, and truth, and 
liberty to the people of God, and concernments of men as 
Englishmen, I would have lain at their feet, or at anybody 
else’s feet, that things might have run in such a current. I 
know the censures of the world may quickly pass upon me, 
N and are already passing ; but I thank God I know Avhere to 
lay the weight of reproach, and contempt, and scorn, that 
hath been cast upon me.”* 

Who has any right to accuse Cromwell of dissimulation 
when he made these solemn declarations? If he was calum¬ 
niated in his day of poAver, it is still more easy to calumniate 
him noAV that he is dead ; and in this, many individuals have 
shoAvn no lack of zeal. We feel no inclination for sc dish on* 
* Somers’ Tracts, vi. 387. Ca *lyle, iii. 320. 


THE KINGSHIP. 


243 


orable a task. In studying the Protector’s character, le' 
them only exercise a little of that impartiality which is dm 
to every man, even to the most useless and obscure, and 1 
3ntertain no doubt they will shake off the prejudices which 
darken his memory. 

Ihe Protector handed to the committee a paper explana 
tory of his motives for refusing the title of king. It was in 
truth a mere question of title. In his eyes, and according to 
the just and picturesque expression he employed, it was 
merely asking him whether or not he would put a feather 
in his cap. Unfortunately the document above mentioned 
is lost. 

A crown had never been his aim. The object of his am¬ 
bition was the liberty, peace, and glory of England. And 
he attained what he had so earnestly thirsted after. 

On the 21st of April he delivered another speech, in 
which casting a retrospective glance cn his past life and on 
the course of Providence, he said, “ After it had pleased 
God to put an end to the war of this nation ; a final end; 
which was done at Worcester, I came up to the Parliament 
that then was ; and though I had not been well skilled in 
Parliamentary affairs, having been near ten years in the field, 
I desired to put a good issue to all those transactions which 
nad disordered the nation: believing verily that all the blood 
which had been shed, and all the distemper which God had 
suffered to be amongst us,—were not the end , but the means , 
which had an end and were in order to somewhat. Truly 
the end then was, I thought, Settlement; that is, that men 
might come to some consistencies,—to some settled order of 
things.” 

Here Oliver shows a more exalted intelligence than Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, who never ceased from battles, and whc 
made them rather the end than the means. 

But it was necessary to put an end to this contest between 
the Protector and the Parliament. On the 7th of May the 
committee presented a ppw petition; and the next day ha 


TliK KINGSHIP. 


244 

summoned the House before him, when, after a rather long 
speech, he said in a manner that admitted no further ques¬ 
tion : “ I cannot undertake this government with the title of 
king. And that is mine answer to this great and weighty 
business.”—Thus he refused to place on his brows the crown 
of the Stuarts and of the Tudors. There are few men re¬ 
corded in ancient or modern history who have been able, 
like him, to resist a similar temptation. For this posterity 
has not shown him much gratitude. His sole reward has 
been insult. We will be more just: we will give justice to 
whom justice is due, honor to whom honor. 

Royalist writers have blamed Oliver for not accepting the 
kingship. “ In thus yielding to men of weaker minds than 
his own,” says one of these historians,* “ Cromwell commit¬ 
ted the same error which had been fatal to Charles. The 
boldest course would have been the safest. The wisest 
friends of the royal family were of opinion, that if he had 
made himself king de facto, and restored all things in other 
respects to the former order, no other measure would have 
been so injurious to the royal cause.” The same writer goes 
even further, and adds: “ His mind (Oliver's) had expanded 

with his fortune.Fain would he have restored the 

monarchy, created a House of Peers, and re-established the 
episcopal church.” A singular fate is Cromwell’s! Some 
reproach him for having desired to be king; others blame 

him for not having desired it.Both are wrong. He 

evidently thought that monarchy was a form necessary to 
Great Britain; but it must be a constitutional monarchy, 
such as exists in the present day. He would have nothint* 
to do with the republic of one party, or with the despotism 
of another. He could not establish this form of government 
during his lifetime; but he did establish it after his death. 
Oliver is the real founder of the constitutional monarchy of 
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

O 

It is in this portion of Cromwell’s life that writers have 
* Southey (Life of Cromwell), who in this agrees wiA Clarendon. 




THE KINGSHIP. 


245 


ocen the most active in search of hypocrisy, although on 
many other occasions, both before and after, the same re¬ 
proach has been made against him. But he could say with 
St. Paul: Oar rejoicing is this, the testimony of our con¬ 
science , that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly 
wisdom~ hut by the grace of God , we have had our convcrsa. 
tion in the world , and more abundantly to you-ward. At the 
very beginning of his public life, he said to his friend Mr. 
St. John (11th September, 16-13), “ I desire not to seek my¬ 
self.” At a season when all minds were the most disturbed, 
and insults the most frequent, he remained calm, and open- 
big his heart to Fairfax, wrote to him with Christian serenity 
and firmness : “ Never were the spirits of men more imbit- 
tered than now. Surelv the devil hath but a short time.. 

V 

Sir, it’s good the heart be fixed against all this. The naked 
simplicity of Christ, with that wisdom he is pleased to give, 
and patience, will overcome all this.” (11th March, 1647.) 
Oliver never lost his assurance in God : he never doubted 
tHt, sooner or later, the just Judge would vindicate him. 
“ Though it may be for the present a cloud may lie over our 
actions to those who are not acquainted with the grounds of 
them,” wrote he to Colonel Jones on the 14th of September, 
1647 ; “yet we doubt not that God will clear our integrity 
and innocency from any other ends we aim at but His glory 
and the public good.” The cloud has long hung over Crom¬ 
well’s memory ; but God has cleared it away at last, and the 
most prejudiced eyes will now look—not upon the “ mon¬ 
ster” which their own imaginations had created, but—upon 
an upright and sincere man,—upon a C hristian, and at the 
same time upon a hero. 

Oliver knew how to profit by the abuse of men. He was 
not puffed up by it, as is frequently the case ; it the rather 
made him feel more keenly his own poverty and weakness; 
but it did not crush him. “When we think of our God, 
what are we ?” he wrote to Lord Wharton, on the 2nd of 
September, 1648. “Oh, His mercy to the whole society 

21 * 


240 


THE KINGSHIP. 


of saints,—despised, jeered saints ! Let them mock or:, 
Would we were all saints ! The best of us are, God knows, 
poor weak saints ;—yet saints ; if not sheep, yet lambs ; and 
must be fed. We have daily bread, and shall have it, in 
despite of all enemies. There’s enough in our Father’s 
house, and He dispensetli it.” 

Was there no ambitious sentiment in the Protector, espe¬ 
cially in this affair of the kingship ? To deny this absolutely 
would be making him superior to the conditions of mortal 
existence. There is no man that shineth not, says the Scrip¬ 
ture. Oliver was not exempt from this general rule. All 
that we would say is, that he was conscientious in this strug¬ 
gle, and that if the flesh lusted against the spirit, the spirit 
fought against the flesh. Cromwell possessed a living faith ; 
and that faith is a power which every day grows stronger 
in the heart. The object for which God places this heav¬ 
enly and divine power in man is to overcome the evil, the 
earthly, and the sensual powers that have taken up their 
abodp in his bosom. The question, therefore, is not whether 
these two contrary elements ,—the new man and the old man , 
—do not exist together in the same individual; but whether 
l .he struggle between them is sincere and loyal. 

In 01 iver the struggle was indeed sincere. 


CHAPTER XIV. 




■•-•AST PARLIAMENT AND DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 

The Installation—Two Houses of Parliament—The grand Design_ 

Petty Quarrels—Parliament dissolved—Conspiracies—Death of Lady 
Claypole—Consolations—Fever—George Fox at Hampton Court— 
Cromwell’s Words on his Deathbed—Confidence—The Storm— 

Cromwell’s Successor—His Prayer and Last Words—His Death_ 

Mourning—Cromwell’s Christian Character—Oliver and the Pope- 
Restoration of Mankind—The Protestant Way—Oliver’s Principles— 
The Pope’s Policy—Conflicts and Dangers of the State—The Two 
Men of the Seventeenth Century—Conclusion. 

On the 26th of June, 1657, Cromwell, after his refusal of 
the kingship, was again solemnly inaugurated Protector. 
The Speaker in the name of the Parliament presented to hin. 
in succession a robe of purple velvet, a bible, a sword, and a 
sceptre of massive gold. The parliament was afterwards 
prorogued until the 20th of January in the following year. 

On its re-assembling it consisted of two houses. The Pro¬ 
tector had told the Commons that he would not undertake 
the government unless there was some body which, by inter¬ 
posing between him and the lower house, would be able t( 
keep seditious and turbulent persons in check. This was 
readily granted ; and as soon as the regulating power was 
established, Oliver thought himself bound to revoke the ex¬ 
ceptional measure by which he had supplied its place at the 
time of the first meeting of the Commons. Their number 

was augmented by the hundred excluded members,. 

a bold and dangerous concession. The other house (as the 
Lords were called) consisted of sixty-one hereditary mem- 



248 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


bers, nominated by the Protector, among whom were his two 
Rons and his two sons-in-law. 

Cromwell opened this new Parliament on the 20th of 
January, 1658, beginning with the usual form, My Lords 
and Gentlemen of the House of Commons. He returned 
thanks to God for His favors, at the head cf which he 
reckoned peace and the blessings of peace, namely, the pos¬ 
session of political and spiritual liberty. As religion was 
always the first of interests in his estimation, Oliver, when 
speaking of this power, which is the strength of nations, 
called to their remembrance “ that England had now a godly 
ministry [clergy], a knowing ministry; such a one as, 

without vanity be it spoken, the world has not.If 

God,” added he in conclusion, “ should bless you in this 
work, and make this meeting happy on this account, the 
generations to come will bless us.” 

The proceedings of this Parliament did not answer to the 
Protector’s expectations. The Commons would have no other 
house. One republican, Haselrig, refused to be made a peer, 
and took his seat in the Commons. Cromwell endeavored to 
raise the attention of parliament above all these trivialities, 
and direct it to the great questions which concerned the 
country. 

Summoning both houses before him on the 25th of Janu¬ 
ary, the Protector said to them :—“ Look at affairs abroad. 
The grand design now on foot, in comparison with which ail 
other designs are but low things, is, whether the Christian 
world shall be all Popery ? Is it not true that the Protes¬ 
tant cause and interest abroad is quite under foot, trodden 
down ? The money you parted with in that noble charity 
which was exercised in this nation, and the just sense you 
had of those poor Piedmonts, was satisfaction enough to 
yourselves of this, That if all the Protestants in Europe had 
had but that head, that head had been cut off, and so an end 
of the whole. 

“ But is this of Piedmont all ? No. I >ok how the 



DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


249 


of Austria, on both sides of Christendom, both in Austria 
Proper and in Spain, are armed and prepared to destroy the 
whole Protestant interest.”* 

After demonstrating his thesis, Oliver continued thus :— 
“ And look to that that calls itself the head of all this—a 
pope! He influence;: all the powers, all the princes of Eu¬ 
rope to accomplish this bloody work. So that what is there 
in all the parts of Europe but a consent, a co-operating, at 
this very time and season, of all popish powers to suppress 
everything that stands in their way ?”f All this was per¬ 
fectly true. The statesmen of England did not then give 
way to fatal delusions. The Protector had eA’es to see, and 
ears to hear. 

Cromwell, after pointing out the dangers abroad, examined 
next into those at home ; inquiring what blessings ought to 
be preserved, and what precautions should be taken for that 
purpose. All his thoughts Avere for the happiness of his 
people. 

“ We have,” said he, “ two blessings: Peace and the Gos¬ 
pel. Let us have one heart and soul; one mind to maintain 
the honest and just rights of this nation. If you run into 
another flood of blood and Avar, this nation must sink and 
perish utterly. I beseech you and charge you in the name 
and presence of God, and as before Him, be sensible of 
these things, and lay them to hearty If you prefer not the 
keeping of peace, that Ave may see the fruit of righteousness 
in them that love peace and embrace peace,—it Avill be said 
of this poor nation : Actum cst de Anglia, It is all OA T er with 
England.^ 

“ While I live, and am able, I shall be ready to stand and 
fall with you. I have taken my oath to govern according to 
the laws, and I trust I shall fully ansAver it. And knoAV, I 
sought not this place. I speak it before God, angels, and 

* Burton, ii. 351. Carlyle’s Cromwell, iii. 405, 40G. 
f Carlyle’s Crom\A r ell, iii. 407 I Ibid. 4*3 

{ Ibid. 424. 


250 


LAST PARI IaMEST AXD 


men; I dip vot. You sought me for it, you brought me It 
it.”* 

This noble language did not produce the effect that might 
have been expected from it. The Commons had not the 
Protector’s piercing eve. Instead of embracing, like him, 
all Europe and its destinies, they squabbled about paltry in¬ 
terests and petty rivalries. The house lost itself in useless 
and dangerous discussions. Quarrels, dissension, and civil 
war were at the door, and “ the English hydra,” says Carlyle, 
“ cherished by the Spanish Charles Stuart invasion, would 
have shortly hissed sky-high again, had that continued.”! 

There was a rumor of an army of 20,000 men appearing 
with a petition for the re-establishment of Charles Stuart, 
and of another force of 10,000 landing in England; “by 
the jealousy (to say no worse) of our good neighbors,” wrote 
Hartlib, Milton’s friend, to Pell.! “Besides,” continues he, 
“ there was another petition set on foot in the city for a com¬ 
monwealth, which would have gathered like a snowball.” 

The well-disposed members endeavored, but without effect, 
to maintain order, and to direct the attention of the house 
to useful objects of legislation. Many violent attacks were 
made upon the members of the other house, who were re¬ 
solved to defend themselves. They forgot the great aims of 

the Protector,.the liberty, prosperity, and glory of 

his country, and gave way to wretched personalities. Crom¬ 
well had far outstripped his age : his contemporaries could 
not follow him. The public men of England required that 
constitutional education which genius and the Gospel had 
given the Protector. This they have now received, and for 
it they are in an especial manner indebted to him. 

Yet for a time the nation Avas again placed between the 
democracy of the levellers and the despotism cf the Stuarts, 
—between the hammer and the anvil. It was necessary for 
6uch a state of things to be brought to a speedy termination, 

* Carlyle’s Cromwell, iii. 424. f Ibid. 426. 

I Vaughan’s Protectorate, ii. 142 



DEATH OF THE FROTECTOR. 


251 


On the 4th of February, 1658, while the lower house was*, 
forgetting its dignity in some idle discussion, the usher of the 
Black Rod announced that his Highness, the Protector, was 
in the House oj Fords, and desirous of speaking with the 
Commons. The first house (for such was their title) hastih 
complied with the summons. 

“My Lords and Gentlemen,” said the Protector, “I 
would have been glad to have lived under my woodside, to 
have kept a flock of sheep, rather than undertaken such a 
government as this. But undertaking it by the advice and 
petition of you, I did look that you who had offered it unto 
me should make it good. 

“ ^ et, instead of that, you have not only disjointed your¬ 
selves but the whole nation, which is in likelihood of runnin<r 
into more confusion in these fifteen or sixteen days that you 
have sat, than it hath been from the rising of the last session 
to this day. They are endeavoring to engage the army, 
which is nothing else but playing the King of Scots’ game 
(if I may so call him); and I think myself bound Jbefore 
God to do what I can to prevent it. I think it high time that 
an end be put to your sitting. And I do dissolve this par¬ 
liament ; and let God be judge between you and me.”* 

These w^re the last words uttered by him in public. He 
was then » oidly approaching that solemn moment when the 
judgment f the Almighty, to which he had appealed, was 
to be acco. dished. 

The most enlightened men thought with Cromwell. Hart- 

O O 

lib wrote a few days after to Mr. Pell: “ Believe me, it was 

of such necessity that, if their session had continued but two 
or three days longer, all had been in blood, both in city and 
country, upon Charles Stuart’s account.”f 

As Oliver felt convinced that these disturbances originated 
chiefly with the principal officers of the army, he set aside 
Harrrson and Ludlow, recalled Fleetwood from his govern- 

* Burton, ii. 465. Carlyle’s Cromwell, iii. 427-432. 
f "Vaughan’s Protectorate, ii. 442. Pail. Hist. xxi. 205. 


25S 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


raent in Ireland, and cancelled Lambert’s commission ; the 
rest were obliged to take an oath not to oppose the present 
government. 

All these measures were insufficient to check the fanatical 
republicans. Having failed in their design in parliament, 
they determined upon killing the Protector, and proclaiming 
King Jesus. The conspiracy was discovered, and the lead- 
er e were apprehended. 

A more formidable combination was preparing among the 
cavaliers. For three weeks the Marquis of Ormond had been 
living privately in London, engaged in promoting the king’s 
affairs. Charles Stuart had an army of 8000 men and 
twenty-two ships ready to sail. Three of the conspirators 
were arrested, and, on the 8th of June, one of them, Doctoi 
Hewet, was beheaded on Tower-hill. 

Although Cromwell was so occupied at home, he did not 
forget the evangelical Christians abroad. One of the last 
documents, which relate to his foreign policy, evinces his 
love for the suffering brethren. The poor Waldenses of 
Piedmont were again disquieted, and by Oliver’s directions 
Milton addressed the following letter to Louis XIV.* 


“ To the most serene and potent Prince, Louis, King of * 

France. 

“Most serene and potent King, Most august Friend and 

\ 

All v. 

“ Your Majesty may recollect that during the negotiation 
between us for the renewing of our alliance (which many ad¬ 
vantages to both nations, and much damage to their common 
enemies, resulting therefrom, now testify to have been very 
auspiciously done), there happened that miserable slaughtei 
of the people of the Valleys; whose cause, on all sides de¬ 
serted and trodden down, we recommended with the greatest 

* Milton’s Prose Works, p. 815. Lond. 1853. 


death of the protector. 


2f>3 


earnestness and commiseration to your mercy and protection. 
Nor do we think your Majesty, for your own part, has been 
wanting in an office so pious and indeed so human, in so far 
as either by authority or favor you might have influence with 
the Duke of Savoy: we certainly, and many other princes 
and states, by embassies, by letters, by entreaties directed 
thither, have not been wanting. 

“ After that most sanguinary massacre, which spared 
neither age nor sex, there was at last a peace given; or 
rather, under the specious name of peace, a certain more dis¬ 
guised hostility. The terms of the peace were settled ii 
your town of Pignerol: hard terms indeed, but such as those 
indigent and wretched people, after suffering all manner of 
cruelties and atrocities, might gladly acquiesce in ; if only, 
hard and unjust as they are, they were adhered to. They 
are not adhered to: the purport of every one of them is, by 
false interpretation and various subterfuges, eluded and vio¬ 
lated. Many of these people are ejected from their old 
habitations ; their religion is prohibited to many ; new taxes 
are exacted ; a new fortress has been built over them, out 
of which soldiers frequently sallying plunder or kill whom¬ 
soever they meet. Moreover, new forces have of late been 
privily got ready against them; and such as follow the Ro¬ 
mish religion are directed to withdraw from among them 
within a limited time; so that everything seems now again 
to point towards the extermination of all those unhappy peo¬ 
ple whom the former massacre had left. 

“ Which now, 0 most Christian King, I beseech and ob¬ 
test thee, by thy right hand which pledged a league and 
friendship with us, by the sacred honor of that title of Most 
Christian,—-permit not to be done; nor let such license of 
butchery be given, I do not say to any prince (for indeed no 
cruelty like this could come into the mind of any prince, 
much less into the tender years of that young prince, or into 
the woman’s heart of hfs mother), but to those most cursed 
assassins, who, while they profess themselves the servants 

22 


254 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


and imitators of Christ our Saviour, who came into the world 
to save sinners, abuse His merciful name and commandments 
to the cruellest slaughterings of the innocent. Snatch, thou 
who art able, and who in such an elevation art worthy to be 
able, those poor suppliants of thine, from the hands of mur¬ 
derers, who, lately drunk with blood, are again athirst for it, 
and think convenient to turn the discredit of their own cru¬ 
elty upon the score of their prince’s. Suffer ncrt either thy 
titles or the frontiers of thy kingdom to be polluted with 
that discredit, or the all-peaceful Gospel of Christ to be 
soiled by that cruelty, in thy reign. Remember that these 
very people became subjects of thy ancestor, Henry, that 
great friend to Protestants ; when Lesdiguieres victoriously 
pursued the Savoyard across the Alps, through those same 
valleys, where indeed lies the most commodious pass to 
Italy. The instrument of their surrender is yet extant in the 
public acts of your kingdom: in which this among other 
things is specified and provided against, That these people 
of the valleys should not thereafter be delivered over to any 
one except on the same conditions under which thy invincible 
ancestor had leceived them into fealty. This protection they 
now implore : the protection promised by thy ancestor they 
now suppliantly demand from thee, the grandson. To be 
thine rather than his whose they now are, if by any means 
of exchange it could be done, they w r ould w T ish and prefer: 
if that may not be, thine at least by succor, by commisera¬ 
tion and deliverance. 

“ There are likewise reasons of state which micfht induce 
thee not to reject these people of the valleys flying to thee 
for refuge : but I would not have thee, so great a king as 
thou art, be moved to the defence of the unfortunate by 
other reasons than the promise of thy ancestors, and thy own 
piety and royal benignity and greatness of mind. So shall 
the praise and fame of this most worthy action be unmixed 
and clear; and thyself slialt find the Father of Mercy, and 
his Son Christ the King, whose name and doctrine thou slialt 


DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


have vindicated from this hellish cruelty, the more favorable 
and propitious to thee through the whole course of thy life. 

“ May the Almighty, for His own glory, for the safety of 
so many most innocent Christian men, and for your true 
honor, dispose your Majesty to this determination. 

“ Your Majesty’s most friendly 
“ Oliver, Protector of the Commonwealth of England. 

“ Westminster, 26th May, 1658.” 

Cromwell at the same time forwarded the most earnest 
recommendations to Sir William Lockhart, his ambassador 
at the French court. We shall quote the last paragraph 
only, in which the hint given to Louis XIY. is more fully de¬ 
veloped. 

“ One of the most effectual remedies, which we conceive 
the fittest to be applied at present is, that the King of France 
would be pleased to make an exchange with the Duke of 
Savoy for those valleys; resigning over to him some other 
part of his dominions in lieu thereof,—as, in the reign of 
Henry IV., the marquisate of Saluces was exchanged with 
the duke for La Bresse. Which certainly could not but be 
of great advantage to his Majesty, as well for the safety of 
Pignerol, as for the opening of a passage for his forces into 
Italy,—which passage, if under the dominion and in the 
hands of so powerful a prince, joined with the natural 
strength of these places by reason of their situation, must 
needs be rendered impregnable.”* 

This was a happy idea. Had the geographical situation 
permitted the union of the Waldenses to the Swiss, for in¬ 
stance, it would have been a great blessing for that poor 
people. But most certainly it would not have been right to 
pla^e them under the sceptre of Louis XIV. In 1685, Avhen 
this mighty king was no longer restrained by the Protector, 
»vho had been laid in the torrb many years before, it was ai 

* Ayscough MSS. 4107, f 80; in Carlyle, iii. 446. 


258 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


the instigation of France that new persecutions burst upon 
the unfortunate Protestants of Piedmont. 

It has often been said in these latter days, with reference 
to an alliance between Spain and France, that the govern¬ 
ment of the latter nation had shut their eyes to the necessi¬ 
ties of the present moment; that formerly it was right for 
France to unite with Spain, because she was at war with 
England ; but that now every international proceeding ought 
to be subordinate to the cordial understanding between 
France and England. This is true: but if the French gov¬ 
ernment has committed a great fault, what shall we say of 
the sagacity of Cromwell, who, outstripping his contempo¬ 
raries by two centuries, inaugurated so long ago the alliance 
of those two countries ? 

The Protector’s health was now gradually declining : he 
was sinking under the weight of care and fatigue. England 
was pressing on and killing him. 

A domestic affliction increased his disorder. Lady Clay- 
pole, his favorite daughter, lay dangerously sick at Hampton 
Court. During fourteen days the unhappy father, unable 
to attend to any public business whatever, did not quit her 
bedside. On the 6th of August she died. His heart was 
crushed ; but he soon found the Christian’s consolation. 
Having withdrawn to his closet he called for Lis Bible, and 
desired a godly person there present to read to him a pas¬ 
sage from the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Philip- 
pians: I have learnt, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to 
he content. I know both how to he abased, and I know how to 
abound. Everywhere, and by all things, I am instructed ; 
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer 
need. I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth 
me. 

After these verses were read, the afflicted parent re¬ 
marked : “ This Scripture once saved my life ; when my 
eldest son died ; which wen* as a dagger to my heart; in¬ 
deed it did.” Thus did Oliver, when near his end, reveal 


DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


251 


to us ail the magnitude of that deep sorrow, which the 
Bible calls the bitterness for a first-born (Zcch. xii. 10). Uc 
declared that he was then on the point of dying of grief: 
adding that he was now once more reduced to the like ex¬ 
tremity; but at the same time he exclaimed with King David: 
Thy word hath quickened me ! 

After this, the bereaved father began to read the eleventh 
and twelfth verses, on St. Paul’s contentment and submis¬ 
sion to the will of God in all conditions of life. “ It’s true, 
Paul,” said he, “you have learnt this, and attained to this 
measure of grace: but what shall / do ? Ah, poor crea¬ 
ture, it’s a hard lesson for me to take out! I find it so !” 

The afflicted ruler, like Rachel weeping for her children, 
refusing to be comforted, because they were not, read on to 
the thirteenth verse, where St. Paul says, I can do all things 
through Christ that strengthencth me. These words began to 
reanimate his faith : Christ’s omnipotence was felt in his 
soul; his heart found consolation, and lie said to himself: 

“ Yes, I feel it, I see it—He that was Paul’s Christ. 

is my Christ too !” What a beautiful sentiment! what an 
affecting scene ! There are not manv great men in history, 
who have shown themselves such true Christians in their 
hours of sorrow. Did the piety of Charlemagne, cf St. 
Louis, or of the Electors of Saxony in the days of the Ref¬ 
ormation, exceed that of the Protector of England ? 

On the 21st of August he was attacked with a fever. He 
took, however, a fev r rides in the park at Hampton Court; 
and it was on one of these occasions that he received the 
last visit from George Fox. Several quakers had been sent 
to prison, and two years before, when the Protector was in 
London, Friend George had remonstrated with him on such 
proceedings. As he was taking his evening drive in Hyde 
Park surrounded by his guards, Fox rode up to the carriage 
door, in spite of all opposition. Oliver lowered the window, 
and welcomed him very cordially. But on the following 
day, at Whitehall, when Fox felt certain of success, ‘he- 



LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


3 5 8 

scene changed. “ Cromwell spoke lightly of me,” said the 
quaker. “ As I was standing by the table, lie came and sat 

on the end, and spake light things to me,.and treated 

me scornfully. He said to me that my enormous self-confi¬ 
dence (he meant my confidence in God who was within me) 
was none of the least of my attainments.” The quaker re¬ 
tired somewhat discontented. 

Fox thus describes his last interview. “ I took a boat 
and went up to Kingston, and from thence went afterward 
towards Hampton Court, to speak with the Protector about 
the sufferings of the Friends. I met him riding into Hamp¬ 
ton Court Park; and before I came at him, as he rode at the 
head of his life-guard, I saw and felt a waft (whiff or appa¬ 
rition t) of death go forth against him ; and when I came to 
him, he looked like a dead man. After I had laid the suf- 
feiings of the Friends before him, and had warned him, ac¬ 
cording as I was moved to speak to him, he bid me come to 

his house.Then next day when I came he was sick, 

and I never saw him any more.”* 

These interviews between Oliver and George Fox are re¬ 
markable. It was a doctrine very similar to that of the 
Friends which had misled the former. He had believed it 
his duty to follow the inward voice instead of inquiring sim¬ 
ply what the Almighty prescribes in his Word. Kow, he 
blames the quaker for this very idea—that God is in him 
and speaks in him. He perceives in this pretended voice of 
Heaven “ an enormous self-confidence.” Did the excesses 
to which the Friends carried the doctrine which had at first 
actuated Cromwell cause him to throw them off? Did he, 
before his death, forsake that erroneous theory which had 
led him so far ? Did he die, as a simple and humble Chris¬ 
tian man, exclaiming with Isaiah : To the law and to the tes¬ 
timony ! Everything would seem to indicate it. 

Cromwell’s disorder grew worse. He was soon advised 
co keep his bed, and as the ague-fits became more severe, he 
* Fox, Journal, i. 381,'ed. 1656. Carlyle, iii. 45*2. 




DEATH OF THE PROI'ECTOR. 


25S 


was removed to Whitehall. Prayers, both public and pri¬ 
vate, were abundantly offered up on his behalf. 

dhe Protector s language on his sick-bed unveiled his 
thoughts and the favorite occupations cf his heart. Accor¬ 
ding to the words of St, Paul, he set his affections on things 
above, and not on things on the earth. 

Ihe sick man, tortured by fever, spoke mucli of the cove¬ 
nant between God and his people. He saw, on the one 
side, the covenant of works ; but, on the other, he hailed 
with rapture the saving covenant of grace. “ They were 

Two,” he exclaimed, as he tossed on his bed ; “ Two,. 

but put into One before the foundation of the world !** He 
was then silent for a time, but resumed: “ It is holy and 

true, it is holy and true, it is holy and true !.Who 

made it holy and true ? The Mediator of the covenant!” 
After a brief silence, he spoke again: “ The covenant is but 
One. Faith in the covenant is my only support. And if I 
believe not,. He abides faithful!” 

Cromwell’s sole hope, when thus brought low, was in Him 
who cannot deny Himself. These words of Scripture seemed 
continually resounding in his heart: By grace ye are saved 
through faith ; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of 
God. (Eph. ii. 8.) The dying Protector heard this decla¬ 
ration of the Apostle, and confidingly responded, Amen. 

As his wife and children stood weeping round his bed, he 
said to them : “Love not this world ! I say unto you, it is 
not good that you should love this world ! I leave ycu the 
covenant to feed upon!” 

What a legacy ! he knew its value—a value far above that 
of the Protectorship of England. What the dying Christian 
begrred for his children was that inheritance incorruptible and 

uu • A 

undefiled, of which St. Peter speaks, which fadetli not away, 
reserved for us in heaven. 

“ Lord,” he exclaimed, “ Thou knowest, if I desire to live, 
it is to show forth Thy praise and declare Thy works.”— 
Another time he was heard moaning: “ Is there none that 





2G0 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND ' 


says, Who will deliver me from the peril ?.Man cap. 

do nothing; God can do what he will.” Thus did he place 
himself in the Lord’s hands, according to that saying of the 
Apostle : If I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor ; 
yet what I shall choose I vjot not. For to me to live is Christ, 
ind to die is gain. 

Oliver’s mind, however, for a time returned to earthly 
things ; but only as regarded his own responsibility in the 
sight of God and His judgment. At this solemn hour, feel¬ 
ing, as it were, in the presence cf eternity, he declared that 
all he had done had been for the welfare of the nation, to save 
it from anarchy and from another war. As a public man, he 
showed no regret for his actions. We have seen that, de¬ 
ceiving himself, no doubt, in some cases, he had acted with 
an honest and firm conviction that all his proceedings were in 
conformity with the Divine will. 

Yet he could not escape from those anxieties which so fre¬ 
quently disturb sincere minds in the hour of death. He knew 
that he was a sinner. He could say with the Psalmist: AT? 
sin is before me; and cry with Job: The terrors of God set them' 
selves in array against me. Thrice over he repeated these 
■words of Scripture : It is a fearf ul thing to fall into the hands 
of the living God. But this trouble did not last long. Crom¬ 
well knew Him who died once unto sin, and could exclaim with 
David: Blessed is he whose sin is covered. He resumed * 
“ All the promises of God are in Him: Yes, and in Him, 

Amen ; to the glory of God by us,.by us in Jesus 

Christ.The Lord hath filled me with as much assur¬ 
ance of His pardon, and His love, as my soul can hold. 

X think I am the poorest wretch that lives: but I love God; 

or rather, am beloved of God.I am a conqueror, 

and more than a conqueror, through Christ that strengthen- 
eth me !”* 

Such -were Cromwell’s engrossing reflections in those sol- 

* These details are taken from Carlyle, iii. 450, &c. Maidstme’* 
Pamphlet. 






DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


201 

emu moments, when the soul, no longer master of itself, 
shows what it really is. All his thoughts were for the 
Saviour, for His covenant, for heaven. No projects of ambi¬ 
tion, no designs of his adversaries then occupied his mind. 
He thought of God alone. This is a decisive proof. 

We have seen men who have played a distinguished part 
in the world unbosom themselves entirely in the agitated 
dreams which precede death. A certain cardinal, for instance, 
who had led a dissolute life, but who had been at the same 
time an influential statesman, was heard to give utterance in 
his last moments to the language of obscenity. The brilliant 
veil of his glory and power was rent, and disclosed nothing 
but infamy and corruption. In like manner the veil, if indeed 
there was a veil, of Cromwell was torn asunder; in these 
jwful moments we may see to the bottom of his heart, and 
all that we can find there is the love of God and of His Gos¬ 
pel. May the Almighty give his accusers the power of sus¬ 
taining, as well as he did, this terrible trial! 

On Monday (August 30), a dreadful hurricane burst over 
London. The wind howled and blew with such violence that 
travellers feared to set out on their journeys, and the cham¬ 
bers of Whitehall re-echoed with its hollow roar. Thurloe, on 
behalf of the council, asked the dying man, who was to be his 
successor? He replied that his name w^ould be found at 
Hampton Court in a sealed paper, lying in a place which he 
pointed out. That document was never discovered ; it was 
thought that Richard, his eldest son, was the person selected ; 
but why should there have been so much mystery, if it was 
merely Cromwell’s natural successor? We cannot refrain 
from the supposition that Henry was the name contained in 
that secret paper,—his own second son, and who appeared 
to possess most, if not all of his father’s great qualities. When 
we think of Oliver’s character and discernment; when we 
reflect that he did not wish his choice to be made known un- 
/il after his death ; w r e cannot entirely reject the thought that 
t was Henry the former Governor and pacificator of Ireland, 


262 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


whom the Protector had pointed out as alone capable of car* 
rying on in England his work of liberty, prosperity, and 
peace. 

That same night, in the midst of the tempest, several per¬ 
sons being in his chamber, and Major Butler among the rest, 
the dying Christian waa heard offering up a solemn prayer, 
of which it lias been said, by way of reproach, that it was 
the invocation of a mediator between God and his people, 
rather than that of a poor sinner. Whether he felt himself 
a sinner or not, this very prayer will tell us; but by what 
right, if we regard the supplications of a dying parent for 

his children as a solemn and affecting thing.by what 

right do men presume to reproach the chief of a great peo¬ 
ple, if he prays for that people, at the very moment when 
God is resuming the reins He had placed in his hands, and 
is calling him to eternity ? We cannot forbear wishing that 
God would give all the rulers of the nations that love of 
their people which is stronger than death, and of which the 
Protector has left us one of the noblest examples recorded 
in history. 


Prayer. 

“ Lord, though I am a miserable and wretched creature, I 
am in covenant with Thee through grace. And I may, I 
will come to Thee for Thy people. Thou hast made me, 
though very unworthy, a mean instrument to do them some 
good, and Thee service ; and many of them have set too 
high a value upon me, though others wish and would be 
glad of my death; Lord, however Thou dispose of me, con¬ 
tinue and go on to do good for them. Pardon Thy foolish 
people! Forgive their sins and do not forsake them, but 
love and bless them. Give them consistency of judgment, 
one heart, and mutu il love; and go on to deliver them, and 
with the work of reformation ; and make the name of Christ 
gl orious in the world. Teach those who look too much on 



DEATH OE THE I'KOTECTOIt. 


20i 


Thy instruments, to depend more upon Thyself. Pardon 
such as desire to trample upon the dust of a poor worm; 
for they are Thy people too. And pardon the folly of this 
short prayer. And give me rest for Jesus Christ’s sake, to 
whom, with Thee and Thy Holy Spirit, be all honor and 
glory, now and forever! Amen.”* 

In such words Cromwell pardoned his enemies, and prayed 
for the misguided republicans ; in fact he prayed even for 
Charles Stuart and his wretched satellites, who afterwards 
trampled upon the illustrious ashes of the Protector. 

On the Thursday following, Maidstone, who was in attend¬ 
ance on his Highness, heard him saying with an oppressed 
voice: “Truly God is good; indeed He is; He will not" 

.here his voice failed him; what he would have added 

was undoubtedly.“ leave me : He will not leave me.” 

He spoke again from time to time, in the midst of all his 
sufferings, with much cheerfulness and fervor of spirit. 
“I would be willing to live,” he said, “to be farther service¬ 
able to God and His people; but my work is done. Yet 
God will be with His people.” 

Ere long he betrayed by his movements that agitation 
which often precedes death; and when something was 
offered him to drink, with the remark that it would make 
him sleep, he answered: “ It is not my design to drink or 
sleep; but my design is to make what haste I can to be 
gone.” 

Towards morning he showed much inward consolation 
and peace, annihilating and judging himself before God. 
This was the 3d of September, 1658, the anniversary of his 
famous battles of Dunbar and Worcester; a day always cel¬ 
ebrated by rejoicings in honor of these important victories. 
When the sun rose, he was speechless, and between three 
and four o’clock in the afternoon, he expired. God shat¬ 
tered all his strength on this festival of his glory and his 
triumphs. 

* Letters and Speeches iii. 457 Neale, ii. 696. 




4 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


Most of my readers are familiar with Pascal’s remarks on 
the death of the Protector. “ Cromwell,” he says, “ would 
have laid waste all Christendom, the royal family would 
have been forever ruined, and his own forever in the ascend¬ 
ant, but for a little grain of sand which stuck in his urethra. 
Rome herself would have trembled under him, but this little 
morsel of gravel, for it was nothing else, stopping in that 

place,.behold him lying dead, his family brought down, 

and the King restored.”—This passage shows that Pascal 
was not so well versed in history, as in Christianity and in 
mathematics. Instead of a grain of *sand, it was a violent 
fever caught in the same palace where his favorite daughter 
had breathed her last, which carried off the greatest Eng¬ 
lishman of the seventeenth century. Under one form or 
under another, it is always the worm that eats into all hu¬ 
man power and glory. All flesh is grass, and all the good¬ 
ness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass witliereth, 
the flower fadeth , because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth 
upon it. 

The sorrow of the Protector’s friends and of the majority 
of the nation cannot be described. “ The consternation and 
astonishment of all people,” wrote Fauconberg to Henry 
Cromwell, “ are inexpressible : their hearts seem as if sunk 
within them.”—“ I am not able to speak or write,” said 
Thurloe; “ this stroke is so sore, so unexpected, the Provi¬ 
dence of God in it so stupendous, considering the person 
that has fallen, the time and season wherein God took him 
away, with other circumstances, I can do nothing but put 

my mouth in the dust and say. It is the Lord.It is not 

to be said what affliction the army and people show to his 
late Highness: his name is already precious. Never was 
there any man so prayed for.”* 

We have said that a violent tempest burst over London 
shortly before Cromwell’s death. Many of the large trees 
in St. James’s Park were torn up by the roots. The poet 
* Letter to H. Cromwell in Thurloe State Papers, vii. 372- 




DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


205 


Waller, in his celebrated lines, represents the Protector's 
dying groans shaking the island of Great Britain, and the 
ocean swelling with agitation at the less of its master, who, 
like the founder of Romo, had disappeared in a storm. 

We must resign! He/vcn his great soul <loth claim 
In storms, as loud as his immortal tamo: 

His dying groans, Us last breath shakee r::’r isle; 

And trees, uncut, fid! for his funeral pile; 

About his palace their broad roots are tost 

Into the air. So Romulus was lost 1 

New Rome in such a tempest miss’d her King, 

And from obeying, fed to worshipping. 

On CEta’s top th is Hercules lay dead, 

With ruin’d oaks and pines about him sjrread. 

The poplar, too, whose bough he wont to wear 
On his victorious head, lay prostrate there. 

These his last fury from the mountain rent: 

Our dying hero from the continent 

Ravish’d whole towns, and forts from Spaniards reft, 

As his last legacy to Britain left. 

The ocean, which so long our hopes confined, 

Could give no limits to his vaster mind; 

Our bounds’ enlargement was his latest toil, 

Nor hath he left us prisoners to our isle: 

Under the tropic is our language spoke, 

And part of Flanders hath received our yoke. 

From civil broils he d : d us disengage, 

Found nobler objects fer our martial rage, 

And, with wise conduct, to his country skwiv’d 
The ancient way of conquering abroad. 

Unorateful then 1 if we no tears allow 

o 

To him that gave us peace and empire too 
Princes that fear’d him grieve, concern’d to see 
No pitch of glory from the grave is free. 

Nature herself took notice of his death, 

And, shrhincr swell’d the sea with such a ureath. 

That, to remotest shores ho/ billows roll’d, 

The approaching fate of their great ruler told. 

Most of the sovereigns of Europe went into mourning, an4 

23 



2Gfi 


last parliament and 


e v cn Louis XIV. showed this outward sign of respect. The 
liberties of Europe, religious freedom, and the great cause of 
Protestantism, might with better reason have covered them¬ 
selves with the funeral crape. But the death of their illus¬ 
trious supporter was not destined to bring them down with 
him to the tomb. The grass withereth, the flower fcideth ; 
but the Word of our God shall stand for ever. 

Richard gave his father a magnificent funeral. For two 
months the embalmed body of the Protector lay in state at 
Somerset House, in a hall hung with black, and illuminated 
by a thousand wax-lights. An inscription was placed over 
the coffin, on which these words might be read :—He died 
ivitli great assurance and, serenity of soul. This is the truth, 
and the fact that it establishes is more glorious to the Pro¬ 
tector than all the parade of velvet pall and funereal torches 

It is seldom that a great man is a Christian; but Crom¬ 
well was both. The result has been, that men of the world 
have scouted him as a hypocrite. By honor and dishonor , 
he could say with St. Paul, by evil report and good report: 
as deceivers, and yet true. It would be an act of great 
meanness, a criminal falsehood, if those who, by studying 
the life of this great man, find in him an upright heart and 
a sincere piety, should unite their voices with those of his 
detractors. We, on oui part, desire to the utmost of our 
ability to renounce all participation in this gross imposture. 

What most distinguishes Cromwell above all great men, 
and especially above all statesmen, is the predominance in 
him,—not only in his person, but also in his government,— 
of the evangelical and Christian element. He thought that 
the political and national greatness of Britain could not be 
established in a firm manner, unless the pure Gospel was 
communicated to the people, and unless a truly Christian fife 
flowed through the veins of the nation. Its blood was 
frozen; and he thought that in order to restore their former 
vigor to the British people, Christianity must again set their 


DEATH Cl'' THE PROTECTOR 


hearts beating. Of ah political systems, surely this is as 
good as any other. 

The Reformation ai_d vhe Romish hierarchy, Oliver and 
the pope, both thought ih.w the influence of the Church was 
necessary to the prosperity of the State. But although they 
agreed on the necessity of this influence, they differed wholly 
as to its nature. 

In Oliver’s system the influence of the Church upon the 
State is purely internal—it is moral or religious; while in 
the papal system this influence is essentially external, being 
ecclesiastical or political. For Cromwell the Church was 
the invisible Church with its spiritual powers; for the pope, 
it was the visible hierarchy of Rome with its plots and in¬ 
trigues. 

Humanity ought to be sanctified and glorified: this is the 
function of Christianity. But, according to Oliver and Prot¬ 
estantism, this great object will be obtained by the conver¬ 
sion of every individual man. Faith brings to man a new 
life, purifies all his natural capacities and consecrates them 
to God. Undoubtedly the Church is the means by wliicl 
this work of restoration is accomplished. But it is not b} 
its outward organization, by its clerical frame-work, by magi¬ 
cal virtues concealed in the sacraments, that it is effected: 
it is brought about by the preaching of the Word, and by 
the operation of the Holy Ghost. 

To advance this work of regeneration is not exclusively 
the province of the ministers of the Church; it belongs to all 
Christians. We have seen how Oliver insisted on this point 
in Scotland. Christ dwells in every believer, and He cannot 
abide there in inactivity. If in heaven He is, for the salva¬ 
tion of Flis people, prophet, priest and king; on earth they 
should imitate Him, and be, for His glory, prophets, priests, 
and kings. 

Life and activity—a life and activity conformable to the 
law of God—being thus carried by evangelical Christianity 
into each individual, are also carried into the mass, into so* 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


S'08 

c.iety, into the Church, and into the State. In those nations 
where the evangelical spirit prevails, the moral, religious, 
and intellectual life will be developed ; every force will be 
set in motion ; liberty on the one hand, submission to the 
laws on the other, will be blessings permanently acquired; 
and the nation will arrive at a degree of power, greatness, 
and glory, that others will never attain. 

Although in the bosom of Protestant nations evangelical 
Christianity is far from having reached the perfection it 
ought to possess, it is sufficient to compare these nations 
with others, in order to perceive that such is, in general, the 
effect of those principles of which Oliver was one of the most 
t-rrinent advocates. In Great Britain and Spain we have a 
signal illustration of this truth. 

If Cromw r ell salutes the English nation, as “ a very great 
people—the best people in the world,”—it is because they 
are “ a people that have the highest and clearest profession 
among them of the greatest glory, namely Religion.” If 
some w r ho desire to have “horse-races, cock-fightings, and 
the like,” say, “ They in France are so and so !” Oliver 
replies, “ Have they the Gospel as w r e have ? They have 

seen the sun but a little. We have great lights !”.He 

declares what has been the principal means employed by 
him to effect the good of the British nation : “ I have been 
seeking of God,—from the great God,—a blessing upon you 
(the Parliament), and upon these nations.” In his closet, 
alone, and on his knees, he Avrestled with God to promote 
the good of his people. One cause was with him superior 
to all the political interests of his people—the cause of 
Christ; and Cromwell knew that it was by being faithful to 
this, that he could secure the true interests of his nation. 
“ It is your glory,” said he to Parliament, “ and it is mine— 

if I have any in the 'world.it is my glory that I know 

a cause which yet w r e have not lost; but do hope we shall 
take a little pleasure rather to lose our lives than lose 

In what did Oliver place his hope and his confidence for 




DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR, 


2G0 


the great cause which he upheld ? “ Supposing this cause 

cr this business must be carried on,” said he to the first 
Parliament, on the 22d of January, 1655, “ it is either of 
God or of man. If it be of man, I would I had never 
touched it with a finger. If I had not had a hope fixed in 
me that this cause and this business was of God, I would 

f 

many years ago have run from it. If it be of God, He will 
bear it up. If it be of man, it will tumble ; as everything 
that hath been of man since the world began hath done. 
And what are all our histories, and other traditions of ac¬ 
tions in former times, but God manifesting himself, that He 
hath shaken, and tumbled down, and trampled upon, every¬ 
thing that he hath not planted ? And as this is, so let the 
All-wise God deal with it. If this be of human structure 
and invention, and if it be an old plotting and contriving to 
bring things to this issue, and that they are not the births 
of Providence,—then they will tumble. But if the Lord 
take pleasure in England, and if He will do us good,—He 
is very able to bear us up ! Let the difficulties be whatso¬ 
ever they will, we shall in His strength be able to encounter 
with them. And I bless God I have been inured to difficul¬ 
ties ; and I never found God failing when I trusted in Him. 
I can laugh and sing, in my heart, when I speak of these 
things to you or elsewhere. 

“ For I look at the people of these nations as the bless¬ 
ing of the Lord : and they are a people blessed by God. 
They have been so ; and they will be so, by reason of that 
immortal seed which hath been, and is among them: those 
regenerated ones in the land, of several judgments, who are 
all the flock of Christ, and lambs of Christ: His, though 
perhaps under many unruly passions and troubles of spirit, 
whereby they give disquiet to themselves and others. A et 
they are not so to God ; since to us He is a God of other 
patience; and He will own the least of truth in the hearts 
of His people. And the people being the blessing of God, 
they will not be so angry but they will prefer their safety to 

2 :j* 



270 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


their passions, and their real security to forms, when neces* 
sity calls for supplies. Had they not well been acquainted 
with this principle, they had never seen this day of Gospel 
liberty.” 

Nothing was more offensive to Oliver than to hear it said 
that it was his wisdom and his shill which had given liberty, 
dominion, and glory to his people. He tore orf the wreath 
that some would thus have placed around his brows, and 
like those mysterious beings in the Apocalypse, he cast his 
crown before the throne of the Lamb, saying: “ Thou art 
worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power !” 

“ ‘ It was,’ say some, * the cunning of the Lord Protector,’ 
—I take it to mvself,—‘ it was the craft of such a man, and 
his plot, that hath brought it about! And as they say in 
other countries, There are five or six cunning men in Eng- 
land that have skill; they do all these things.’ Oh, what 
blasphemy is this ! Because men that are w'ithout God in 
the w^orld, and w T alk not with Him, know not what it is to 
pray or believe. These men that live upon their mumpsimus 
and sumpsimiis, their masses and service-books, their dead 
and carnal worship,—no marvel if they be strangers to God, 
and to the works of God, and to spiritual dispensations. 
And because they say and believe thus, must we do so too ? 
We in this land have been otherwise instructed ; even by 
the Word, and Works, and Spirit of God. 

“ To say that men bring forth these things when God 
doth them,—judge you if God will bear this ! I wish that 
every sober heart, though he hath had temptations upon 
him of deserting this cause of God, yet may take heed how 
he provokes and falls into the hands of the living God by 
such blasphemies as these ! According to the tenth of the 
Hebrews : If we sin wilfully after that we have received the 
knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for 
sin. A terrible word! It was- spoken to the Jews who, 
having professed Christ, apostatized from Him. What then 1 
Nothing but a fearful falling into the hands of the living 


DEATH OF TIIE PKOTECTOK. 


271 

God ! -They that shall attribute to this or that person the 
contrivances and production of those mighty things God 
hath wrought in the midst of us ; and fancy that they have 
not been the revolutions of Christ Himself, upon whose 
shoulders the government is laid, —they speak against God, 
and they fall under His hand without a Mediator. 

“ If we den y the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the glory of all His 
works in the world, by which He rules kingdoms, and doth 
administer, and is the rod of His strength,—we provoke the 
Mediator : and He may say: I will leave you to God, I will, 
not intercede for you ; let Him tear you to pieces ! I will 
leave thee to fall into God’s hands ; thou deniest me my 
sovereignty and power committed to me; I will not inter¬ 
cede nor mediate for thee ; thou fullest into the hands of 
the living God ! I may be thought to press too much upon 
this theme. Cut I pray God it may stick upon your hearts 
and mine. The worldly-minded man knows nothing of this, 
but is a stranger to it; and thence his atheisms, and mur- 
murings at instruments, yea, repining at God Himself. And 
no wonder; considering the Lord hath done such things 
amongst us as have not been known in the world these 
thousand years, and yet notwithstanding is not owned by 
us !—” 

When Oliver set forth religion as the true source of a 
nation’s prosperity, it was not a religion of impressions only, 
an enthusiastic and fanatical religion; no! it was a moral 
religion. In his eyes, morality was quite as important as 
doctrine : he knew that faith without works is dead. “ I did 
hint to you my thoughts about the reformation of manners,” 
he said to Parliament on the 17th of September, 1G5G. “And 
those abuses that are in this nation through disorder, are a 
thing which should be much in your hearts. It is that 
which, I am confident, is a description and character of the 
interest you have been engaged against, the cavalier interest; 
the badge and character of countenancing profaneness, dis¬ 
order, and wickedness in all places,—and whatever is most 


272 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


of kin to these, and most agrees with wliat is Popeiy, and 
with the profane nobility and gentry of this nation ! In my 
conscience, it was a shame to be a Christian, within these 
fifteen, sixteen or seventeen years, in this nation ! Yv hether 
in Caesar s house, or elsewhere! It was a shame, it was a 
reproach to a man; and the badge of ‘ Puritan’ was put upon 
•*t.—We would keep up nobdity and gentry :—and the way 
to keep them up is, not to suffer them to be patronizers or 
countenancers of debauchery and disorders ! And you will 
hereby be as laborers in that work of keeping them up. 

“ A man may tell as plainly as can be what becomes of us, 
if we grow indifferent and lukewarm in repressing evil, under 
I know not what weak pretensions. If it lives in us, there¬ 
fore ; I say, if it be in the general heart of the nation, it is a 
thing I am confident our liberty and prosperity depend upon 
—Reformation. Make it a shame to see men bold in sin and 
profaneness, and God will bless you. You will be a blessing 
to the nation ; and by this, will be more repairers of breaches 
than by anything in the world. The mind is the man. If 
that be kept pure, a man signifies somewhat; if not, I would 
very fain see what difference there is betwixt him and a 
beast. He hath only some activity to do some more mis¬ 
chief.” 

Oliver exerted all his eloquence to persuade the parliament 
that piety and decision in God’s cause could alone save Eng¬ 
land and Protestantism. There was never, perhaps, a man 
more decided than Cromwell, and he would fain hare im¬ 
parted some of this spirit to all who had the means of 
influencing the prosperity of Great Britain and of the Prot¬ 
estant world. “ Now if I had the tongue of an angel,” he 
continued in the speech we have just quoted ; “if I was so 
certainly inspired as the holy men of God have been, I could 
rejoice, for your sakes, and for these nations’ sakes, and for 
the sake of God, and of his cause which we have all been 
engaged in, if I could move affections in you to that which, 
if you do it, will save this nation! If not,—you plunge it. 


DEATH OF THE rHOTECTOK. 275 

to all human appearance, it and ail interests, yea and all 
Protestants in the world, into irrecoverable ruin!— 

“ Therefore, I pray and beseech you, in the name of 
Christ, show yourselves to be men ; quit yourselves like men ! 
It doth uot infer any reproach if you do show yourselves 
men: Christian men, which alone will make you ‘ quit your¬ 
selves.’ I do not think that, to this work you have in hand, 
a neutral spirit will do. That is a Laodicean spirit; and we 
know what God said of that Church : it was lukewarm, and 
therefore he would spue it out of his mouth! It is not a 
neutral spirit that is incumbent upon you. And if not a 
neutral spirit, it is much less a stupefied spirit, inclining you, 
in the least disposition, the wrong way ! 

“ Men are, in their private consciences, every day making 
shipwreck ; and it’s no wonder if these can shake hands with 
persons of reprobate interests :—such, give me leave to think, 
are the popish interests. It is not such a spirit that will 
carry this work on! It is men in a Christian state; who 
have works with faith / who know how to lay hold on Christ 
for remission of sins, till a man be brought to glory in 
hope. Such a hope kindled in men’s spirits will actuate 
them to such ends as you are tending to. 

“If men, through scruple, be opposite, you cannot take 
them by the hand to carry them along with you,—it were 
absurd : if a man be scrupling the plain truth before him, it 
is in vain to meddle with him. lie hath placed another 
business in his mind; he is saying, ‘Oh, if we could but 
exercise wisdom to gain civil liberty,—religion would fol¬ 
low !’ Could we have carried it thus far, if we had sat 
disputing in that manner ? I must profess I reckon that 
difficulty more than all the wrestling with flesh and blood. 
Doubting, hesitating men, they are not fit for your work. You 
must not expect that men of hesitating spirits undei the 
bondage of scruples, will be able to carry on this work, much 
less such as are merely carnal, natural; such as, having an 
outward profession of godliness, whom the apostle speaks 


274 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


so often, are enemies to the cross of Christ ; whose god is theil 
belly i whose glory is in their shame ; who mincl earthly things 
“ Give me leave to tell you,—those that are called to this 
work, it will not depend for them upon formalities, nor no¬ 
tions, nor speeches ! 1 do not look the work should be done 

by these. No, but by men of honest hearts, engaged to 
God; strengthened by Providence; enlightened in His 
words, to know His Word,—to which He hath set His seal, 
sealed with the blood of His Son, with the blood of His ser¬ 
vants : that is such a spirit as will carry on this work. 

“ Therefore I beseech you, do not dispute of unnecessary 
and unprofitable things which may divert you from carrying 
on so glorious a work as this is. I think every objection that 
ariseth is not to be answered ; nor have I time for it. I say, 
Look up to God ; have peace among yourselves. It is a 
union this between you and me : and both of us united in 
faith and love to Jesus Christ, and to His peculiar interest 
in the world,—that must ground this work. If I have any 
peculiar interest which is personal to myself, which is not 
subservient to the public end,—it were not an extravagant 
thing for me to curse myself: because I know God will curse 
me, if I have ! I have learned too much of God to dally 
with Him, and to be bold with Him, in these things. And 
I hope I never shall be bold with Him !—though I can be 
bold with men, if Christ be pleased to assist!— 

“ I say, if there be love between us, so that the (Three) 
Nations may say, ‘These are knit together in one bond, to 
promote the glory of God, against the common enemy ; to 
suppress everything that is evil, and encourage whatsoever 
is of godliness,’—yea, the nation will bless you ! And really 
that and nothing else will work off these disaffections from 
the minds of men ; which are great,—perhaps greater than 
ail the other oppositions you can meet with. I do know 
what I say. When 1 speak of these things, I speak my 
heart before God ;—and, as I said before, I dare not be bold 
with Him. I have a little faith : I have a little lived by 


DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


275 


faith, and therein I may be bold. If I spoke other than the 
affections and secrets of my heart, I know He would not bear 
it at my hands ! Therefore in the fear and name of God: 
Go on, with love and integrity, against whatever arises of 
contrary to those ends which you know and have been told 
of; and the blessing of God will go with you !— 

*• I have but one thing more to say. I know it is trouble¬ 
some :—but I did read a Psalm yesterday, which truly may 
not unbecome both me to tell you of, and you to observe. 
It is the Eighty-fifth Psalm ; it is very instructive and signifi¬ 
cant : and though I do but a little touch upon it, I desire 
your perusal at pleasure. 

“ It begins: Lord, Thou hast been very favorable to Thy 
land ; Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou 
hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people ; Thou hast covered 
all their sin. Thou hast taken away all the fierceness of Thy 
wrath. Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine 
anger. Turn us, 0 God of our salvation, and cause Thine 
anger towards us to cease. Wilt Thou be angry with us 
for ever ; wilt Thou draw out Thy anger to all generations ? 
Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice 
in Thee ? Then he calls upon God as the God of his salva¬ 
tion, and then saith he : I will hear what God the ' Lord will 
speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His 
saints; but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his 
salvation is nigh them that fear Him! Oh! —that glory may 
dwell in our land! Mercy and truth are met together; 
righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall 
spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from 
heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our 
land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before 
Him, and shall set us in the way of His steps .” 

Such, then, was Oliver’s policy : “ Be united in faith and 
love to Christ! Suppress everything that is evil, and en¬ 
courage whatsoever is of godliness.” 

This is not the policy of the pope. The kingdom of God, 


276 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


says lie, is in the Church; the Church is in the hierarchy 
and the hierarchy is in the pope. The Church finds the 
State far from God, without life from above ; and imparts to 
it that life, not by regenerating the individuals who compose 
that society, but by attaching them in a mass to its own 
ecclesiastical organization. If the State submits to the 
Church, it is a Christian state; if it opposes the Church, 
i. c. the pope, it is not of Christ or of His covenant. 
Popery does not positively exclude the internal work, which 
is the essence of Protestantism ; but no great importance is 

k _ 

attached to it. All that Romanism requires is submission to 
the papacy, and an outward, legal morality. And how low 
the standard of that morality has been brought may be 
learned from the class-books employed in her theological 
seminaries. 

While the Protestant principle gives a nation liberty, life, 
and order; the Romanist principle, on the contrary, brings 
to it slavery, disorder, and death. 

The Romish Church would fain take the State under its 
guardianship, and insinuates itself everywhere in order to 
direct it. Hence there arise at every moment conflicts and 
disputes. The State complains that the Church infringes on 
its rights ; and the Church, that the State encroaches on re¬ 
ligion ;• and as the State and the Church have each their par¬ 
tisans, this may lead to a civil war. Such struggles arc not 
rare in the countries subjected to Roman-catholicism, and of 
this in our days, France, Spain, and other popish kingdoms 
present frequent examples. When I see the British govern¬ 
ment proposing the formation of a political connection with 
the pope, I fancy I behold those kings of the ancient na¬ 
tions, whom the Roman arms subdued, humbly stretching 
out their enfeebled hands to Rome that she may rivet cn 
them the manacles of the conqueror. 

The centralization, which is the characteristic of Popery, 
confers on it great strength. Doubtless the time is past 
when by a papal bull an interdict was pronounced against a 


DEATH OF THE PROTECTOR. 


211 


whole people, and when even kings were compelled to bend 
the knee before it. Yet the allocutions, the encyclical let¬ 
ters, and the confessional, still possess a certain power, and 
even in these times, many states (Prussia for instance), which 
have had to deal with Rome, have experienced ample proof 
of this. 

The Romish Church is so much the more formidable to 
the peace and prosperity of nations, as she has no fixed po¬ 
litical principles, but seeks merely her own power, and wil¬ 
lingly allies herself with every party, provided some advan¬ 
tage can be derived from it. She will unite with kings 
against their subjects, and with subjects against their kings, 
just as her interest may require. She will be despotic, she 
will be liberal: she will be proud, and she will be meek. 
She aims at one thing only—to bind prince and people un¬ 
der the throne of the Vatican, and to maintain herself erect 
above them, treading with one foot on the hand of the 
sovereign, and with the other on the heart of the people. 

This servitude, which Popery brings on the nations, ne¬ 
cessarily leads in their case to a moral and intellectual tor¬ 
por, which erelong becomes a political and industrial death. 
Unhappy Ireland, as we have before remarked, is the true 
substratum of Roman-catholicism. 

Such is the system which Oliver Cromwell rejected, and 
for which he substituted the Gospel. 

He was wrong v T hen he determined to forbid the mass ; 
and wc have seen that afterwards he was willing to tolerate 
it. Full liberty of conscience to all was his great principle, 
and it will gradually become the device of the whole world. 
But that was not properly the question, which was political 
rather than religious. It was this : Could the subjects of a 
foreign prince be active citizens in another.state, and take 
part in its administration ? If individuals were excluded 
from the government of Great Britain, who had made oath 
of fidelity to the princes of Versailles, of the Escurial, or 
of the imperial castle of Vienna, why should the subjects 

24 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


278 

of the prince of the Quirinal be admitted ? It might have 
been said that the cases were very diffeient. If there 
was a difference, was it not in this, that in England, for in¬ 
stance, there was greater danger from the Pope than from 
the King of France ? The latter had no pretensions on 
England, while the former had many. A foreign king com¬ 
municates but seldom with his subjects who may be in Lon¬ 
don, while the virtue and fidelity of a subject of the prince 
of the Quirinal consist in being as constantly as possible 
in communication with that prince or with his agents. 

I will not solve the question: it is not my business. 
Others may consider it their duty to examine it; I content 
myself with stating it as I should imagine it must have ap¬ 
peared to Oliver Cromwell. 

For him there was, however, another element in tLA 
question. The prince of the Vatican was in his eyes a ma¬ 
lignant power, the man of sin, -who necessarily brings deso¬ 
lation and destruction upon the nations. The statesmen of 
our days reject this thought, and regard it as a folly. We 
believe that they are mistaken, and that they will see their 
error before long. 

Much has been said of Cromwell’s ambition. This made 
him take up arms, this made him become Protector, this 
agitated him during the discussion on the kingship! The 

ambition of one man !.and is this all that man can see 

in his life ? It is a paltry manner of viewing history. In 
truth it was a very different thing, and very different thoughts 
which filled Oliver’s bosom. It was not a feather in his cap 
that occupied his mind: he was fighting the great battle 
against the papacy and royalty of the Middle Ages,—the 
greatest that history has had to describe since the establish¬ 
ment of Christianity and the struggle of the Reformation. 

The result of this battle was the deliverance of the present 
age and of ages yet to come. Without Cromwell, humanly 
speaking, liberty would have been lost not only to England, 
but to Europe. Even Hume in one place asciibes this ira- 



DEATH OF THE TltOTECTOR. 


279 


mense and glorious result to the puritans. We must add, 
that the defeat of liberty would have been the defeat of the 
Gospel.' 

In the seventeenth century there were but two men : Louis 
XIV. and Oliver Cromwell; the former representing absolu¬ 
tism and Roman-catholicism; the latter, evangelical Christian¬ 
ity and liberty. There were certainly in that age other im¬ 
portant personages; and who will not recall to mind the 
generous Gustavus Adolphus ? But the two chief figures are 
Louis and Oliver. Between them—between their systems, if 
not between their persons,—the struggle was fought; and the 
victory, although slow and long disputed, particularly in 
France, remained with Oliver. They are the representatives 
of two principles,—of two worlds. The two gigantic figures 
are each raised on a lofty pedestal; and their shadows fall 
not only on their own age, but extend over all future times. 

• •• • •••••• 

I have been in England; I have seen in her great manu¬ 
facturing cities the miracles of that activity which covers the 
whole world with the productions of a petty island in Eu¬ 
rope. In the ports of London, of Liverpool, and other 
places, I have gazed upon those floating isles, those thou¬ 
sands of masts which bear afar over every sea the riches and 
power of the nation. I have admired in Scotland a simple, 
energetic, and active people, ready to sacrifice everything 
rather than abandon Christ and His Word. I have been 
present at the debates of the Parliament of the three king¬ 
doms, and I have admired that eloquence which, not content 
with words, goes right to the heart of the matter, and impels 
the nation onwards in its great destinies. I have found 
everywhere, from the lower classes of the people to the ex¬ 
alted stations of nobles and princes, an enthusiastic love of 
liberty. I have wandered through those halls from which 
are conveyed to the four quarters of the world Bibles printed 
n every known language. I have prayed in the churches, 
and at the religious meetings have been transported by the 


280 


LAST PARLIAMENT AND 


powerful eloquence of the speakers and the acclamations of 
the audience. I have found in the families a morality com¬ 
paratively greater than in other countries; and pious cus* 
toms, both private and public, more generally prevalent. I 
have been struck with admiration at beholding the people of 
those islands, encompassing the globe, bearing everywhere 
civilization and Christianity, commanding in the most distant 
seas, and filling the earth with the power and the Word of 
God. 

At the sight of such prosperity and greatness, I said: 
Ascribe ye strength unto God: His excellency is over Israel, 
and His strength is in the clouds. 0 God, thou art terrible 
out of thy holy places! the God of Israel is He that giveth 

strength and power unto His people . Blessed be God! 

This is the work of the Reformation;—it is Protestantism 
and the evangelical faith which have so greatly exalted this 
nation, and given it such influence. 

But God works by instruments; and if there is any one 
man who, in times past, has contributed more than another, 
more than all others, to the wonders of the present day, that 

man is.Oliver Cromwell. The existing greatness of 

England is but the realization of the plan he had con¬ 
ceived. 

If that enthusiasm for the Gospel; if that opposition to 
Popery,—those two distinctive characteristics of his mind, 
which Cromwell has imprinted on the people of Great Brit¬ 
ain, should ever cease in England ;—if a fatal fall should 
ever interrupt the Christian course of that nation;—and if 
Rome, which has already ruined so many kingdoms, should 
receive the homage of Old England. 

Ihen, should I at any future period revisit her shores, I 
should find her glory extinct, and her power humbled to 
the dust. 

But this melancholy presentiment will never be realized. 
Great Britain will be faithful to the path which God, in Oli¬ 
ver’s day, traced out for her. She will remain a city set upon 





DEATH OF THE FROTECTOR. 


281 


a hill, which cannot he hid, and which scatters over the world 
light, civilization, and faith. 

Calling these things to mind, as I composed this sketch, I 
obeyed the dictates of my conscience. Out of the abundant* 
of the heart the mouth speaketh. 

I BELIEVED, AND THEREFORE HAVE I SPOKEN. 



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